Bleak Forest

Character Rules: Attributes & Might

Created by Johnathan L Bingham

Attributes

Roll 3d6 and apply the results (in order) to your Attributes. Attributes for normal human range are from 3-18, with 3 being at the lower end of potential and 18 being the highest human potential. Attribute descriptors such as Mediocre or Excellent can be useful in describing the quantification of the particular of the attribute, but they are not necessary for game play.

Roll (3d6)	Modifier	Description (Optional)	Might
1-2	-4	Awful	n/a
3-4	-3	Terrible	n/a
5-6	-2	Poor	n/a
7-8	-1	Mediocre	n/a
9-11	0	Average	n/a
12-13	+1	Good	n/a
14-15	+2	Great	n/a
16-17	+3	Excellent	n/a
18	+4	Outstanding	n/a
19-20	+5	Superb	1–2 (Imposing)
21-22	+6	Fantastic	3–4 (Imposing)
23	+7	Epic	5 (Dread)
24	+8	Legendary	6 (Dread)
25	+9	Mythic	7 (Dread)

Corpus (Body)

Corpus represents your physical body. It affects how well you can lift things, climb, dodge, and how well you endure hardship. Use your Corpus modifier for melee damage, ranged attacks, and how much you can carry. Checks using Corpus are for things like endurance, moving around, and falling. Your Corpus modifier also increases your Vitality. If your Corpus ever drops to zero, you die.

Anima (Mind)

Anima represents your mind. It reflects your emotions, determination, and how you interact with others. Anima helps with tasks like convincing people, spotting danger, or noticing hidden things. It’s important for resisting effects that target your mind, like charms or illusions. The Anima modifier is added to reaction checks and shows how many loyal followers or magical creatures you can have (if it’s negative, treat it as zero). It also adds to your Vitality. If Anima ever drops to zero, you become unresponsive.

Spiritus (Spirit)

Spiritus represents your inner spirit or essence. It’s important for things like casting spells, empowering sigils, and making deals with magical beings. Your Spiritus modifier is added to spellcasting rolls and to your Vitality. If your Spiritus ever drops to zero, you fall into a coma.

Vitality

Vitality measures your capacity to endure damage, exertion, and magical strain. To calculate Vitality, start with a base of 12 and add the modifiers from all three attributes (Corpus, Anima, and Spiritus). Starting Vitality cannot be lower than 1 or higher than 24.

Example: Corpus 10 (+0), Anima 6 (−2), Spiritus 16 (+3) + 12 + 0 − 2 + 3 = 13 Vitality. Skills, spells, and items can raise this further.

Might

Some creatures, environments, and Challenges possess Attributes above 18 (beyond the ceiling of human potential). These supernatural values are converted into Might, a rank that determines how overwhelmingly a threat bears down on a character.

Might is not simply a bonus added to dice rolls; it is a tier of dominance that reshapes what is possible when facing the creature. Might is divided into three tiers, each with effects that apply to minimum BAM! ratings, Vitality damage bonus, and impacts to saves against the creature’s attacks and abilities.

The benefits of Might tiers ONLY apply to stats that have a might tier assigned – higher level Might benefits do not transfer down to a creature’s non-elevated stats.

Might Tiers and Effects

Consult the tier on the table below based on the creatures Might score.

Tier 0: at this level, there are no might effects, but this is a useful categorization for determining Conjuration effects across entities of varying power levels. (see Conjuration under Paths Arcane).

Tier I: Imposing (Might 1–4): The creature is significantly beyond human capacity but can still be overcome by skilled or lucky characters.

Effects:

BAM! Minimum	Vitality Damage Bonus	Save Modifiers
Difficult (16)	Equal to Might	As per normal rules

Tier II: Dread (Might 5–7): The creature is a fundamental threat that warrants extreme caution.

Effects:

BAM! Minimum	Vitality Damage Bonus	Save Modifiers
Challenging (19)	Equal to Might	When you make a save against an attack or ability from a creature with this Might tier, a natural 20 produces only a partial success: you avoid the worst outcome but still suffer a Minor condition to the affected ability (i.e. Corpus for physical damage)..

Tier III: Primordial (Might 8+): The creature exists at a scale that defies mortal limits.

Effects:

BAM! Minimum	Damage Bonus	Save Modifiers
Formidable (22)	Equal to Might	When you make a save against an attack or ability from a creature with this Might tier, an unmodified natural 20 still fails. However, if your modified result succeeds, you take half damage or suffer the minimum effect. You also incur a Moderate Condition to the affected ability (i.e. Corpus for physical damage).

In addition, the following apply at Might Tier III:

When you declare a defensive or avoidance effect against this creature (such as Defensive Manoeuvres, Absorb Blow with a shield, or Evasion), the effect is used up immediately, whether it works or not.
If the creature is reduced to 0 Vitality by a single hit, it instead drops to 1 Vitality and takes a Severe condition — it cannot be slain outright without a specific narrative or magical condition being met first.

Example in action: A Frost Giant has a Corpus score of 24, making its Might of 6. This places it in Tier II (Dread). If a character tries to resist being knocked prone by the Giant's club with a Corpus save, the required BAM! check is at Challenging (19). When the Giant hits, it inflicts its standard 2d6+3 damage plus an additional 6 automatic bonus Vitality damage (based on its Might score of 6) and forces a save against being knocked prone. Should the character roll a natural 20 on their saving throw, they manage to stay upright but still suffer a Minor (Bloodied) condition from the resulting shockwave.

Assigning Might to Environmental Threats Environmental threats usually don’t have stats or a BAM! rating. If they do list a BAM!, use that to pick a Might score. If they don’t, use survivability as your benchmark:

Might 1–4: Harsh but survivable conditions Equivalent Difficulty: 16 (Difficult) Examples: severe cold, dangerous terrain, smoke-filled rooms A normal person could survive with effort.
Might 5–7: Lethal conditions Equivalent Difficulty: 19 (Challenging) Examples: raging fires, collapsing caverns, toxic atmospheres A normal person would need extraordinary luck or special training to survive.
Might 8+: Superhuman-level forces Equivalent Difficulty: 22 (Formidable) Examples: volcanic eruptions, crushing pressure, magical storms Survival is impossible without superhuman abilities.

Quick rule of thumb:

Might 1–4: an ordinary person could survive without help
Might 5–7: survival requires extraordinary luck or power
Might 8+: survival is impossible without superhuman aid