Rules Primer

The Dice Mechanic

Success/Fail Test: Roll a 1d20; success occurs when the dice lands on a result equal or less than the value specified by the GM. This is usually a character trait, sometimes modified by circumstances.

Effect Test: this is like damage rolls, or mystical healing rolls. These will be a d4, d6, d8, d10, or d12

Opposed Test: This is a Success/Fail test, but the roll is modified by the scale of an NPCs attribute, based on the difference to 10. Example: PC is trying to Sneak past an NPC. This is called a Discreet vs Vigilant test. The PC rolls Discreet, modified by the NPCs Vigilant modifier. If the NPC's Vigilant score is 8, then it's a +2 modifier (difference to 10). So the PC needs to roll equal to or less than the modified Discreet, i.e., Discreet +2.

Social Challenges: The game vagues this up, and simply encourages roleplaying.

Combat: There is a Turn Order, based on Initiative, and each player gets one Move Action, and one Combat Action.

Movement Action: Movement is a bit abstract which I like. You don't need a combat map. A Movement action "represents a meaningful movement in combat". That means stuff like moving into melee and engaging the enemy, a flanking maneuver, switching weapons, standing up from prone, or disengaging (which allows the enemy a Free Attack against you). In case you need a criterion, one Movement action is 10 paces or 10 meters.

- reach and enemy and engage it in melee combat
- take up a flanking position next to an enemy already fighting an ally
- move past an enemy to reach another one that stands further away (enemies that are bypassed may perform a Free Attack)
- withdraw from melee combat (which allows each enemy to perform a Free Attack).
- create a clear line of sight to an obscured enemy

- switch weapons
- stand up from prone (requires a Quick test; If you fail the Quick test, then it takes the whole round to stand, foregoing ypur Combat Action.)
- drink/apply an elixir to yourself

Reactions: responses or follow-ups to other Actions, they can be performed at any time and are not tied to the initiative order.

Free Attack: generally these are triggered by someone else, such as:
- entering melee with someone armed with a Long weapon (unless both have a Long weapon)
- fleeing from melee combat
- moving past someone in melee combat

Combat

Combat Actions are a named misleadingly, it's probably what I would call a Standard Action. It can be an attack or casting a spell or using an ability.

The basic attack is an Accurate vs Defense test if you are the player character.

Remember, the GM doesn't roll dice. When NPCs attack, it's handled via a Defense vs Accurate action by the player character.

Damage depends on your weapon and is again rolled by the PC. NPCs have fixed weapon damage. You subtract your armor from the damage. For players, that's a die roll again.

Note: IIRC, some character classes allow the Accurate trait to be replaced by something else.

Prone: There is no explicit penalty to your attack if you are prone. However, if you are attacking a prone thing that gives you +2 attack and +1d4 damage. For a NPC attacking a prone player, that means -2 to your defense roll and +2 damage.



Characters

The player has to choose archetypes ("classes" like Warrior, Rogue, and Mystic) with an occupation (a specialization like Duelist or Sorcerer). However, these are not hard and fast rules but inspirations and ways to easily create a character. You can make up a character from the ground up ignoring any suggestions the book gives you.

Nevertheless, the options are interesting enough and cover most tropes. The archetypes and occupations come with a short description and suggestions about which attributes, races and abilities are important.

There are 8 attributes in this game: Accurate, Cunning, Discreet, Persuasive, Quick, Resolute, Strong and Vigilant as well as some derived stats like Toughness, Pain Threshold, Defense and Corruption Threshold. I find the main attributes quite self-explanatory. The Pain Threshold (PT) is quite interesting because if you take damage greater than your PT in one round, the opponent gets some nice benefits like another attack or knocking you prone. The Corruption Threshold shows that the game ties the horror element of the setting in the game mechanics.

Character Levels

Characters don't have levels in Symbaroum. Instead, experience points are awarded, accumulated, and can be spent on improving stuff, or buying new abilities. I won't cover that now, but after we get to an xp bit.

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The above comes from the CRB, and largely from an excellent post: https://dieheart.net/symbaroum/

Corruption

Corruption is really the source of the what makes Symbaroum Dark Fantasy. It works as follows: using magic causes corruption. Get enough Corruption and you become a monster that is no longer playable as a PC.

Temporary Corruption: Temporary Corruption is like fun, happy Corruption. That is, it goes away after the scene. It really forms a limitation on spell casters that if they use too much magic in a scene, the accumulate Temporary Corruption, usually 1d4. If your Temporary Corruption exceeds your threshold, then you gain Permanent Corruption.

Permanent Corruption: is the Corruption that eats away at one's soul and cannot be washed away with anything but purging rituals.

Total Corruption: is the sum of Temporary Corruption and Permanent Corruption, and is used to estimate just how affected the character is by Corruption.

Blight-Stricken: Total Corruption 1+. The Corruption can be detected with the Witchsight ability and rituals like Holy Smoke.

Blight-marked: Corruption reaches Corruption Threshold (Resolute/2 rounded up). The PC develops a physical Stigma as a sign of its Corruption. A Stigma that is a result of Temporary Corruption will heal within a day (as the TC disappears after the scene), but a Stigma from Permanent Corruption will remain until the Permanent Corruption is purged.

Abomination: Resolute reached. The creature is thoroughly corrupt. The PC turns into an abomination and becomes a NPC. No known ritual can save the character.

Pain Threshold

A character's Pain Threshold is half of its Strong value, rounded up. When a character suffers damage equal to or higher than the PT, from a single attack and after Armor has been subtracted from the damage value, one of the following things happens (player's choice):
- The affected creature is knocked down and has to get up (special action); or
- The one dealing the damage is allowed to perform an immediate Free Attack against the affected creature.

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Table 24: Marks of Corruption

Examples of Stigmas

-A festering wound that does not heal
-Discolored skin, blemishes and severe rashes
-Boils in mouth and throat, that burst at inappropriate times
-Fangs, or nails in the shape of claws or talons
-A birthmark that with imagination may look like a dark rune or an evil symbol
-Eyes that glitter in the dark
-Eyes that actually blacken with anger, hunger or lust
-A faint odor of decay follows the person, despite him or her looking healthy
-Breath that stinks of sulfur
-Veins that bulge black when experiencing anger or other strong emotions
-Dark streaks in the blood, visible when the creature bleeds
-Cold as a corpse or feverishly hot without any signs of sickness or disease
-Speaks in a unknown evil-sounding language while sleeping
-Drawn to tainted artifacts and evil places while sleepwalking
-Degeneration of sight; relying on other senses instead, like smell and touch
-Taste for cadavers, must feed on something rancid every day to avoid starvation
-Taste for raw meat, must feed on fresh meat every day to avoid starvation
-Thirst for warm blood, must drink warm blood every day to not be thirsty

The Attributes

Attributes are used to determine just how prepared a character is to face different kinds of challenges in the game world. A character’s value in an Attribute, such as Strong or Quick, indicates what kind of life he or she has lived growing up. In other words, the attribute values make out a fairly stable foundation which will not change dramatically but that can be built upon and refined.

Accurate
A character’s hand-eye coordination, precision and timing are all represented by Accurate. This Attribute is for instance used to hit an intended target with punches, strikes, throws or a missile from a ranged weapon. Accurate is in most cases opposed by an enemy’s Quick.

Cunning
The Cunning Attribute represents a character’s wit and knowledge, its common sense as well as actual schooling and education. You usually test Cunningwhen trying to remember facts, when solving a logical problem or puzzle, or when doing research in a library. Cunning is usually tested against a specific level of Difficulty, decided by the Game Master.

Discreet
A player character’s value in Discreet mirrors its aptitude for and training in being silent, agile and, well, discreet. This Attribute can be used to avoid being detected, to hide or smuggle something, to shadow someone or to steal something out of a person’s pocket. Discreet is often opposed by an enemy’s Vigilant.

Persuasive
Persuasive reflects how well a player character can influence others by use of words, voice, body language and looks. The Attribute is often used when trying to persuade another person to do (or refrain from doing) something, either verbally, in writing or by song. Persuasive is usually opposed by an enemy’s Resolute.

Quick
Quick represents a character’s reflexes, balance, nimbleness and how fleet-footed he or she is. It determines the order of initiative in combat and is used actively when jumping, avoiding harm and performing similar acrobatic maneuvers. Quick is often opposed by an enemy’s Accurate.

Resolute
Resolute represents a character’s resistance to influence, whether it is social pressure, mind-bending magic or Corruption. Resolute is also tied to the use of mystical powers. The Attribute is often opposed by either an enemy’s Resolute or Persuasive. Note that having a very low value in this Attribute is inadvisable, because of the risk for Corruption.

Strong
Strong mirrors a character’s capacity to use its physical strength in order to, for instance, lift some-thing heavy or break down a door. It also covers the capacity to withstand physical damage and to resist poisons and diseases. Strong is usually modified by a level of Difficulty, sometimes by an enemy’s Strong.

Vigilant
Vigilant represents a character’s general awareness, the attunement of its senses and its ability to detect the details of its surroundings. Vigilant is often opposed by an enemy’s Discreet.

Here is the combat sheet from the core rulebook: