Essentials

Cards and Decks

Peregrine is played with a tarot deck in lieu of dice. A regular tarot deck is composed of Minor Arcana and Major Arcana.

The Major Arcana Deck (Major Deck) should be shuffled and placed close to the GM, with the exception of The Fool card.

The Minor Arcana Deck (Minor Deck) should be shuffled together with The Fool card and placed in the center of the table, accessible to everyone. Although not all cards in the Minor Deck are numbered, treat the face-cards and aces as having the following values:

There are two discard piles: one for minor arcana and one for major arcana. As cards are played, place them into the appropriate discard pile face-up, unless instructed otherwise. You may not look at any of the previously discarded cards. You may not rearrange the discard piles.

Don’t shuffle the decks unless told so, even during character creation.

▸ Whenever the Fool is drawn, both decks are reshuffled, together with the respective discard piles, at the end of the round.

▸ If you run out of cards in one of the decks, shuffle only that deck, together with its discard pile.

Test of Fate

Challenges


Inventories

Each character has 3 distinct inventories: Physical, Mental and Soul.

Physical

Number of slots: 10 + Might.

Objects you carry are noted in your Physical Inventory. Clothing doesn’t count, unless it provides a bonus. Most items take up one slot.

Item TypeSlots
Large Items (armor)Up to 3
Small Items (3 scrolls, 10 arrows, 3 bottles, etc.)1
CoinsOnly if ≥1000
Ephemera (earring, note, lock of hair)0 (10+ treated as 1 small item)

Fatigue occupies Physical Slots. Remove by Resting (see Camping).

LevelEncumbrance Points
11-5
26-10
310+

Disadvantage when in combat. You can only crawl. Each turn crawling adds 1 Fatigue.

Dropping Things in a Hurry: draw 1d4 to see how many slots you may carefully put down; 2d4 if you don’t mind damage.

Mental

Number of slots: 10 + Mind.

A number of specific things go into your Mental Inventory.

CategoryDescription
SpellsEach known spell occupies 1 slot (see Magic)
LanguagesEach language you know occupies 1 slot
SkillsEach skill occupies 1 slot

Stress occupies Mental slots. Each Stress occupies 1 Mental Slot. Gaining stress is cumulative.

Stress Examples

EventStress
Failing a test of fate1
A Great Failure in a test of fate1
Running out of light in darkness1
Spending 1 day without sleeping1
Skipping breakfast1
Falling to 0 HP1
An ally falling to 0 HP and living2
An ally dying2

Traumas

TraumaEffect
Panic ♦︎+1d7 Stress, up to Mental Inventory limit
Scream ♦︎If anyone didn't know you are here, they will now. May provoke a random encounter
Twitchy ♦︎Disadvantage on all tests of Might
Fight/Flight/FreezeFor 1d6 rounds, attack, flee, or freeze
Phobia ♦︎Gain 1 Stress when encountering stressor
ShockMake a test of Mind once per round; until succeed, no actions
AbusiveOnce a round, when an ally fails, they take 1 Stress as you scream
NauseaGag or vomit for a round; cannot benefit from meals for one week
Reshape ♦︎Mind refashions around trauma; randomly reassign Virtues
Blackout ♦︎Faint 1d7 rounds when taking damage; can be slapped awake
Nightmare ♦︎Don’t regain full Vigour when resting
HallucinationWhenever you gain stress...
HopelessAll is lost; all rolls with disadvantage until group success
Amnesiac ♦︎Your name is gone from Soul Inventory

Soul

Number of slots: 7 + Grace.

Your Soul Inventory holds fickle and fragile things that relate to your sense of self, such as your Name. If, for any reason, you lose your name, you cannot use any of your Sign Powers.

Corruption also occupies Soul slots – each corruption occupies 1 slot. If your Soul Inventory is full, Corruption replaces a random non-Corruption slot.