Foundations

“What is bred in the bone will not come out of the flesh.”
— Traditional English proverb

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Foundations

Foundations are the inborn potential of each character. Barring aging, trauma, or rare Storyteller events, they do not drift session to session. They feed every dice pool and shape how quickly Skills improve through Practice.

There are nine Foundations, grouped by domain:

Physical

Strength

Raw power, lifting, striking force, physical dominance

Dexterity

Speed, precision, balance, fine motor control

Constitution

Endurance, hardiness, resistance to fatigue and hardship

Mental

Intellect

Reasoning, learning, memory, problem-solving

Perception

Awareness, observation, noticing the hidden or out-of-place

Resolve

Willpower, mental fortitude, capacity to keep going

Social

Charisma

Presence, force of personality, the ability to draw others

Guile

Cunning, misdirection, deception

Authority

Natural command, gravitas

Each Foundation is rated on a narrow scale:

Rating	Meaning
1	Below average
2	Average
3	Above average

Values of 0 or 4 are technically possible — rarities for extreme cases (severe disability or legendary freaks of nature), and only with Storyteller approval and a matching Trait.

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Where Foundations Matter

System	Interaction
Dice pools	Foundation is always part of pool size (Skills too, except Primitive actions).
Skills / Practice	Each Skill has a ruling Foundation. Foundation 3 halves Practice thresholds; Foundation 1 doubles them.
Exertion	Maximum pool = Resolve + Constitution + Charisma.
Echo capacity	max(Strength, Dexterity) + Intellect + Authority.
Harm	Each Foundation has a paired Harm track; Harm reduces effective Foundation.
Character Creation	Start at 1; free points, Birth Omen, and The Wanting all adjust Foundations.

Smoke is filling the hall. The outer door has swollen shut in the wet. Leif has no tools and no time to fetch any — he braces and drives his shoulder into the timber to force it open. This is pure force, not carpentry: a Primitive action.

1. Intent: force the stuck door open before the smoke thickens.
2. Type: Primitive — Foundation only (Strength). No Skill die. No Practice.
3. Tier: d8 (nothing special favours or hinders him).
4. Pool: Strength 3 → 3d8 (+ Omen d20).
5. Result: 2 Marks — the door yields after a hard shove; he is through, coughing, a moment later than he wanted.
6. Note: had this been planned work with wedges and a bar, the Storyteller might name Strength + Carpentry instead. Here the fiction is raw body against wood.

See also: Human Potential for how Foundations sit beside Skills, Traits, and Exertion.

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