top of page
Game Mechanics
Souls and Feats
Perhaps the most major change between Dark Souls: PtRE and Fifth Edition is the use of souls over classes and levels, every character has access to the same things as every other character and it is what they decide to do with the world's currency; souls, that dictates how they evolve, souls are gained in lieu of XP and are used to purchase nearly everything. Feats, Attunement Slots, Stat Boosts and even Equipment are purchased with souls. Souls come in two forms, an item that comes in different sizes that can be turned into currency, or the actual currency. Unlike the item however, the currency is dropped on death as explained below, dying before managing to collect dropped souls results in the souls permanently being lost.
Death and Humanity
Humanity is a secondary currency in Dark Souls: PtRE, and is used to restore a player back to humanity. Players begin either human or undead at the DMs discretion, being human is required for certain feats to work and allows the player to find Vagrants but may also invite the attention of unwanted hostile red phantoms. One humanity is enough to restore an undead back to humanity, and can be attained in both an item and as raw currency, like souls, the currency form is dropped on death and must re-acquired, this currency form also gives the user bonuses when using Chaos weaponry and provides bonuses to WIS saves vs. Curses
In Dark Souls: PtRE, all players are undead and bound by the strange laws of this world. First and foremost, if the player's hit points go below zero, they will go down, the hit points, unlike fifth edition, go into negative numbers, requiring healing capable of bringing the player back to above zero to heal them, the player dies if the entire party goes down, they manage to have a higher negative hit point value than the inverse of their maximum health or three turns pass and they are not brought back up.
A dead player can be brought back by simply using a bonfire, if they were human they return as undead and will have to return to where they died to reacquire souls and humanity dropped
However players must be cautious, dying too many times without restoring your humanity will cause the player to hollow, going permanently insane. This occurs should the player die four times as an undead without using a humanity, a player whose character goes hollow loses control of the character and the party will likely meet them later down the line one final time as a hostile red phantom
Player Ability Scores
Dark Souls: PtRE uses the stats made popular by Dungeons and Dragons and Pathfinder, which are Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma, these stats act very similarly to their Dungeons and Dragons/Pathfinder counterparts. The DM is free to use whatever method of stat distribution they wish (eg. Roll 4d6 take lowest or Stat Buy) but should be aware that the games stat-purchase system, explained later, means that characters with low stats will quickly be able to customise their character and bring them up to speed with stronger characters.
Base Carry Weight is your STR x2, certain feats can increase this.
OPTIONAL RULE: Years of dying and being reborn can do horrors to the mind of the undead, and some of them soon find themselves struggling with concepts that used to be so simple to them, having an INT of 8 or less greatly reduces the PCs ability to speak, whether this comes across as difficulty forming sentences, speaking nonsense or simply talking like an idiot is up to the DMs discretion first but may be passed onto the player if the DM doesn't mind.
​
Hit Points, Bonfires and Estus Flasks
Your CON score represents your base Hit Points (eg. a CON of 15 (+2) makes a PCs base HP 15). This score can be altered by numerous feats such as Vitality and Toughness, acquiring particular items, or by simply increasing your CON.
​
Throughout the world you will find bonfires, bonfires will act as the games resting point, resting at a bonfire restores the parties Hit Points to maximum, fully refills their Estus Flasks, restores spell slots and allows for the spending of souls in exchange for cleared locations possibly being re-populated at the DMs discretion, the party is often not capable of making these bonfires on their own
​
OPTIONAL RULE: Bonfires are normally not able to be created by the party, however the DM may allow the party to attain Chosen Undead Souls from lost party members in order to give them a fighting chance in difficult chunks of the game where players may die enough to go hollow.
​
Estus Flasks are the players main source of healing, Estus Flasks begin with three uses and heal 1d4+4 health per use, Estus Flasks can be upgraded at bonfires in three different ways, Estus Flasks can be used to increase the uses gained at a bonfire, Bone Dust can be used to increase the dice rolled when an Estus Flask is drunk up to a d12. Firekeeper Souls can be used to increase the flat number that is added to Estus Flask Heals by 2, up to a maximum of 12
​
OPTIONAL RULE: This upgrading system is not usually suitable for shorter games, in this case, the DM can implement Kindling, drinking an Estus Flask is reduced to a single AP and sacrificing humanity to an estus flask, permanently increases the parties estus flask maximum by 3
Actions and Action Points
Players begin with 3 Action Points, these action points are used to perform combat manoeuvres, action points are fully restored at the end of each turn and different actions have different AP costs
OPTIONAL RULE: Dark Souls is a game series infamous for it's backstabs and ripostes, that is to say that critical hits are particularly common, for this reason I recommend using the Pathfinder Second Edition rule of any hit that beats the targets AC by 10 is a critical hit, with critical rolls instead being considered an additional +10 to the final result
- Moving (1 AP): The player moves up to their movement speed, unless the player acquires specific feats, they may only move twice per turn, this includes the bonus movement from disengaging. You cannot move through other characters, even allies. You can move through the space between two diagonal allies. You cannot move through the space between two diagonal enemies.
- Attack (x AP): The player attacks a valid target within range, the AP depends on the weapon/spell and attack that you use so check the Equipment Section for more detail, unless the player acquires specific feats, they may only attack twice per turn
- Kick (2 AP): The player attacks a valid target within melee range and rolls an athletics check against the opponents athletics check. The opponent gains advantage if they have a dodge roll prepared. On failure, they are pushed back 5ft, if they fail by 10 or more they are instead pushed back 10ft and fall prone.
- Disengage (3 AP): The player carefully disengages from combat, so as not to provoke an attack of opportunity and may also additionally move half their movement speed
- Dodge Roll (1 AP): The player dodges out of the way of a possible incoming attack, the next attack that is directed at them, they gain an AC bonus depending on how weighed down they are, gaining 3 AC if they are below 25% encumbrance, 2 AC below 50% and 1 AC otherwise. AC bonuses from Shields are disabled when dodge rolling, multiple dodge rolls can be stacked in one turn to dodge multiple attacks. After the attack has been completed, the player can also move 5ft, if the player's turn comes back around and they have unused dodge rolls, they must move 5ft for every dodge roll. Alternatively a dodge roll can be used in lieu of disengaging, provoking an attack of opportunity but gaining the AC boost associated with dodge rolling before moving 5ft away.
- Parry (1 AP): The player prepares to deflect an attack, the next attack that is directed at them, they gain an AC bonus depending on what shield type they wield, gaining 3 AC if they have a parrying shield, 2 AC if they have a light shield and 1 AC otherwise. If the attack hits the shield's AC (that is they hit the AC that the shield or parry has added) the attack fails to hit, the attackers turn immediately ends and they lose any AC from their shield, unlike a dodge roll, you may only apply one parry per turn and it cannot be used against ranged attacks.
- Estus Flask (2 AP): The player takes a swig of their Estus Flask, gaining an amount of health equal to what their Estus Flask is currently upgraded to heal, drinking the Estus Flask repeatedly in one turn only costs 1 AP per extra swig, drinking an Estus Flask provokes an attack of opportunity if possible. If the attack of opportunity hits, you must make a concentration check or lose the action
- Use an Item (x AP): The player uses an item from their inventory, the items affect and AP cost are listed with the item
- Get Up (1 AP): If the player is knocked down, they must use 2 AP to get back up.
- Switch Weapon (1 AP): Switch from one weapon to another from your inventory.
Proficiencies
Attacks do not use your proficiency bonus, this is to make up for the fact that your stat cap is so high, and the fact characters do not level up, there are however feats to improve your proficiency bonus for the sake of Skill Proficicncies
​
Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition Skills are used in this system, they act exactly as they would in fifth edition, however it is encouraged to use...
OPTIONAL RULE: Skill Checks that would require very specific knowledge of the subject or are particularly difficult should only be offered to players with Skill Proficiency, placing more importance in players gaining skill proficiencies to close skill gaps in the party
Spell Slots and Attunement
Players who wish to use magic will find themselves buying levels of attunement, each level of attunement costs more than the last (with the exception of the first level of attunement for classes that begin without magic) and allows you to use one more spell slot, each spell slot holds one spell regardless of power and each spell has a designated number of uses before they must be restored either by items or by bonfire, you can get the specifics from the magic section of the wiki
Falling Damage
Players and NPCs who fall off just about anything may take fall damage, fall damage begins at 1d3 at 10ft, and doubles every 10ft, if an enemy is within melee range as you fall you can elect, assuming you have the AP to do so, to perform a diving attack, forcing them to take your falling damage to a maximum of whatever the attacks base damage is, allowing you to negate fall damage and up to effectively double your damage. In addition, this knocks the enemy prone.
Friendly fire / Accidental PvP
When firing into combat, firing past or through allies can result in you possibly hitting them. This includes:
​
Critical failing when in melee combat and flanking
Critical failing when in ranged combat and another PC is within a cone within the weapons range
Firing a ranged weapon through the space between two diagonal PCs or just clipping a PCs square and rolling a 1 or 2, lobbing weapons such as firebombs will always use this rule even when blatantly through a PC
Firing a ranged weapon blatantly through a PC and rolling a 5 or less
​
You do not hit the ally if the attack hits regardless
Ranged Attack Penalties in Melee Combat
When firing into melee combat with a ranged weapon or spell, you will illicit an attack of opportunity and, unless the weapon is spring-loaded, you fire with disadvantage
bottom of page