Terminology

This page contains common and important terminology.

• Action Points - points used during combat that determine how many actions a character may perform per turn.
• Archetype - one of several types of playable character, each having its own specific abilities and bonuses.
• Archetype Trick - a special skill available only to a character of a certain Archetype; all Archetypes have unique tricks.
• Arctix - the mechanics system of rules used by Rainwall RPG. It stands for Archetypes, Traits, and Influence.
• Armor - items worn by characters to reduce damage.
• Bonus Modifier - a stat that improves a specific score.
• Combat - when player characters engage in combat with creatures, other players or NPCs.
• Consumable - an item that can be consumed or used once to provide a specific effect (food, poison, health, etc.).
• Crafting - the act of a player character making items to be used in gameplay; requires ingredients.
• d10 - a ten-sided polyhedral die. Rainwall RPG uses a set of 10 d10 dice for everything; this set includes one off-colored die and may include what is called a tens die.
• Damage - the number of Health Points taken away during a successful combat attack.
• Difficulty Rating - DR; how difficult a task is to complete on a scale of 1-10.
• Edged Weapons - swords, knives, axes, or other bladed weapons
• Experience Points - XP; points players earn by accomplishing things and completing quests; used to purchase Upgrades.
• Explosive Weapons - weapons that explode, which are not thrown.
• Gamemaster - GM; the person who is responsible for running a gaming session and acting as rules arbitrator, storyteller, etc.
• Health Points - HP; a score that determines how much damage a character can take.
• Incapacitation - a stat whereby a character is unconscious.
• Increment of Success - IoS; the number of successful dice in a Skills Check that exceed the task's Difficulty Rating.
• Influence - one of six styles of influencing other characters.
• Initiative - a roll to see the order of effects and player turn in a given situation.
• Melee Weapons - using bludgeons to deal damage.
• Mental Resilience - a character's psychological resolve.
• Non-player Character - NPC; any character not played by a player, but controlled by the GM.
• Physical Resilience - a character's physical resolve and pain tolerance.
• Ranged Weapons - guns, bows, slingshots, or other weapons that fire a projectile.
• Reflex - a score that determines how well a character is able to react to surprises and other things.
• Skill - a character's specific ability to do a particular thing.
• Skills Check - rolling dice to determine if use of a particular skill is successful.
• Thrown Weapons - weapons that are thrown, such as rocks, boomerangs, spears, etc.
• Trait - one of six attributes that determine a character's overall intrinsic abilities.
• Unarmed Combat - using the self as a weapon to deal damage.
• Upgrading - when a player character spends XP to improve a skill or stat.
• Weapon - items used to deal damage.