The Steel & Mud Field Manual

"You are not heroes chosen by destiny. You are survivors chosen by a refusal to die quietly. Read this, and you may live to read it twice."

Standard fifth edition is built for heroic fantasy — a game where characters swell into demigods who shrug off dragonfire, walk away from falls that would shatter a horse, and sleep off a gut wound by morning. This conversion is built for a different kind of story. Here the body is meat, the meat tears, and no amount of glory stitches it back together.

What follows is a manual for gritty, low-magic, lethal campaigns. It runs on the bones of the familiar d20 system, but the superhuman padding has been cut away and the magical safety nets burned. What is left is logistics, footwork, and the cold arithmetic of who bleeds first. A rusted blade in a black alley kills a decorated veteran exactly as dead as it kills a farmhand.

How to read this manual. Throughout these pages, mechanical terms are marked in dark red. Hover over any marked word to read its rule without leaving the page. Custom Steel & Mud rules — Static HP, Damage Reduction, and Stamina — always take precedence over the standard rules they replace.

How the Dice Decide

Every contested act in this world — every swing, climb, and lie — is settled by one die.

The Core Roll (the d20)

When you attempt something with a real chance of failure — sinking a blade between ribs, vaulting a chasm, talking your way past a gate — you roll a twenty-sided die. To it you add the relevant Ability Modifier, and, if you are trained for the task, your Proficiency Bonus. Compare the total against the target's Armor Class in a fight, or the Difficulty Class the GM has set for the task. Meet it or beat it, and the deed is done. Fall short, and the world does not care how hard you tried.

Abilities & the Modifier

Six raw scores measure the soldier and the soul: Strength (the body's force), Dexterity (speed and balance), Constitution (the capacity to keep breathing), Intelligence (learning and reason), Wisdom (instinct and nerve), and Charisma (the force of one's presence). Each score yields a modifier — subtract 10 and halve the result, rounding down. A score of 14 grants a +2; a score of 8 saddles you with a −1. That modifier rides on nearly every roll you will ever make.

Ability Checks, Skills & the DC

An Ability Check tests raw aptitude against a task. Skills are narrow trades layered atop an ability — Athletics on Strength, Stealth on Dexterity, Medicine on Wisdom, and so on. If you are proficient in the skill the work calls for, add your Proficiency Bonus to the roll. The GM names a Difficulty Class; you try to clear it.

Setting the Difficulty
Task	DC	What It Feels Like
Trivial	5	A child could manage it on a bad day.
Easy	10	A steady hand and a clear head suffice.
Moderate	15	Training shows. Amateurs falter.
Hard	20	Only the genuinely skilled need apply.
Brutal	25	The stuff of grim reputation.
Forlorn Hope	30	Songs are sung of those who manage it.

Passive Checks & Contests

Passive Checks: When the GM does not want a roll — to see whether you notice the garrotte wire before it finds your throat — your passive score is 10 plus the relevant modifiers. Your passive Perception is what keeps you alive while you sleep.
Contests: When two creatures strive directly against one another — a wrestle in the mud, a stare-down across a tavern, a lie against a hard-eyed sergeant — both roll the relevant check. Higher total wins. A tie means the deadlock holds and nothing changes.

Advantage & Disadvantage

In the mud, fairness is a story told to children. You stack the odds before steel is ever drawn.

When circumstance heavily favours you, you act with Advantage: roll two d20s and keep the higher. When it works against you — fighting blind in driving rain, or while Wounded — you suffer Disadvantage: roll two d20s and keep the lower. If you hold both at once, they cancel, no matter how many of each. You never roll more than two dice this way.

Saving Throws

A Saving Throw is not something you choose to do; it is your body or mind flinching away from sudden ruin. When fire blooms, when poison bites, when terror claws at your resolve, the GM calls for a save. Roll a d20, add the relevant ability modifier, and add your Proficiency Bonus only if you are trained in that particular save. Beat the DC or pay the price.

The Six Defenses

Strength & Dexterity — the body in motion. Bracing against a charge that would hurl you down; throwing yourself clear of a collapsing roof or a sweep of flame.
Constitution — the body enduring. Outlasting venom, fever, and the cold grip of blood loss. The Trauma Check against massive damage is a Constitution save, and it is one you will come to dread.
Intelligence, Wisdom & Charisma — the mind under siege. Holding your reason against deceit, your nerve against fear and despair, and your very sense of self against whatever rare horror would unmake it.

Advantage and Disadvantage apply to saves as to any other roll. Certain Paths harden a soldier against specific deaths — the Knight's Master of the Field, the Outrider's Master of the Fringes, the Scholar's Master of the Mind each grant flat bonuses to whole categories of save.

The Anatomy of Violence

Combat is brief, chaotic, and measured in fleeting six-second slices called rounds. Most fights worth surviving are over inside a handful of them. Within a round, every combatant takes a turn, and on that turn the world bends to a strict economy of motion.

Initiative — Who Moves First

The moment blades clear leather, every combatant rolls a Dexterity check. This is Initiative. Act in order from highest to lowest; that order holds for the whole fight. The first heartbeat of a brawl decides more deaths than the last. The Outrider, who lives by drawing first, rolls Initiative with Advantage.

The Turn — Your Economy of Motion

Movement: You may move up to your speed, split before and after your action as you like. Heavy steel and bleeding wounds gnaw at that number.
Action: Your one decisive deed — most often an Attack, but see the menu below.
Bonus Action: A swift secondary maneuver. You get one only when a weapon, trait, or Path perk grants it — a Pommel Strike, a Shield Bash, a thrown vial.
Reaction: A single instant response between your turns, triggered by something outside your control — an Opportunity Attack on a fool who turns to run, or a Master's Riposte. One per round; spend it well.

The Menu of Actions

On your turn you may spend your Action on any one of the following:

Attack: Make one melee or ranged attack. Some warriors strike more than once — see the Knight's Extra Attack.
Dash: Gain extra movement equal to your speed. The choice of the cornered and the fleeing.
Disengage: Pull back without provoking Opportunity Attacks. Disciplined retreat, not a rout.
Dodge: Until your next turn, attackers strike you with Disadvantage and you make Dexterity saves with Advantage. You give ground to keep your skin.
Help: Steady a comrade so their next check or attack rolls with Advantage.
Hide: Make a Stealth check against the enemy's passive Perception to vanish from sight.
Ready: Name a trigger and a response now, and unleash it as a Reaction the instant it comes.
Catch Your Breath / Clinch / Use an Object: Reset your stance to recover 1 Stamina, seize an enemy in a Clinch, or put your hands to gear and ground.

Attack Rolls & Armor Class

Steel does not bounce off a number. It is turned aside by a body that knows how to not be where the blade is.

To land a blow, roll d20 + your ability modifier + Proficiency Bonus and meet or beat the target's Armor Class. A natural 20 always hits and lands a critical hit — roll the weapon's damage dice twice. A natural 1 always misses, no matter the math.

Crucial distinction: in Steel & Mud, armor does not raise your Armor Class. Armor is Damage Reduction — it soaks the blow after it lands. Your AC is your raw chance of avoiding the hit at all: footwork, parry, and shield, set by your Core Path and Dexterity, sharpened by perks. A man in full plate is easy to hit and hard to hurt. A naked skirmisher is hard to hit and trivial to kill.

Damage & Cover

Damage & DR: When a hit lands, roll the weapon's damage and subtract the target's Total DR (the sum of their armor pieces). Damage is reduced to a minimum of 1 — even a glancing blow against plate draws something. Weapon properties such as Anti-Armor, Bodkin, and Mercy claw past that protection.
Half-Cover: A low wall, a corpse, a comrade. Grants +2 to AC and Dexterity saves.
Three-Quarters Cover: An arrow-slit, a half-open door. Grants +5 to AC and Dexterity saves.
Total Cover: Fully hidden behind something solid. You cannot be targeted directly at all.

Forget the duels in the songs. A real fight is three breaths long and decided in the first one. The man who pauses to see whether it's fair is the man we carry off the field.

The Art of the Wrestle

When the steel grows thick enough that swords skate off it, the fight collapses into something older and uglier — two armoured men in the mud, grappling for the one gap wide enough to slip a dagger through a visor. Grappling is the reliable answer to a foe in heavy plate, resolved in two stages.

Stage 1 — The Clinch

You have seized the enemy's harness, neck, or weapon arm. There is no elegance left.

The Check: As an Action, roll Strength (Athletics) contested by the target's Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics).

Effect: The target's speed becomes 0 (Grappled). Both of you suffer Disadvantage on attacks with Reach or Two-Handed weapons, and you cannot use a shield to bash.

Stage 2 — The Pin (Grounding)

You drive the enemy to the earth and pile your weight on, holding them in the dirt.

Requirement: The target must already be in a Clinch.

The Check: An Action to grapple, with Advantage if you wear more Tier 3 pieces than they do.

Effect: Both of you are Prone; the target is Restrained. You must spend 1 Stamina at the start of each of your turns to hold the Pin. Run dry, and they slip back to a Clinch.

The Execution

A Pinned man's armor becomes a metal coffin. Use an Action to attack with a Mercy weapon: the strike has Advantage and ignores all Damage Reduction. This is how knights die — not on the field, but on their backs in the muck.

I watched Ser Othell, the finest lance in three counties, go down in the press at Edgecombe. All that beautiful plate, and he drowned in a foot of mud with a farmhand's rondel working patiently at his visor. Steel is no promise. It is only a delay.

Vitality, Stamina & Trauma

Where a single blow can be fatal, the gap between a veteran and a corpse-to-be is not how much punishment the body absorbs, but how coldly it manages its limits.

1. The Reality of Mortal Flesh (Static HP)

Flesh tears. Bone breaks. Blood spills and does not return. You cannot drill your body into ignoring a severed artery.

The Calculation: Your hit point maximum equals your Constitution score. A Constitution of 14 means 14 hit points. That is all the life you get.
The Hard Cap: This number never climbs simply by earning Renown. It rises only through specific foundational features — chiefly the Path of the Knight.
The "Zero" State: Dropping to 0 hit points is not clean death; it is a catastrophic, bleeding wound. You fall, you make death saving throws, and if you live, survival always carves something out of you for keeps.

2. The Breath in Your Lungs (Stamina)

Fighting in fifty pounds of steel will kill you faster than any enemy. Battles are not won by the hardest hitter, but by the one still able to lift their arms when the other cannot.

Stamina is your tactical reserve — adrenaline, wind, and the will to drive muscle past its breaking point.

Your Pool: Maximum Stamina equals 3 + your Constitution modifier (minimum of 1).
Active Costs: The advanced maneuvers of every Path — a thrown vial of Flash Powder, an Iron Tackle — are paid for in Stamina.
The Breaking Point: At 0 Stamina you become Fatigued: your speed is halved and you make Strength (Athletics) checks with Disadvantage. You are doubled over, gasping, easy meat.
Catching Your Breath: Spend your Action mid-fight to simply breathe and recover 1 Stamina. All spent Stamina returns after a short or long rest — conditions permitting.

3. Blood Loss & Systemic Shock

Damage is not an abstraction on a sheet. A heavy blow blurs your sight, steals your wind, and drags your hands a half-second behind your intent.

The Wounded State: Reduced to half your hit point maximum or lower, you become Wounded. Pain and blood loss impose Disadvantage on all Dexterity checks and Dexterity saves until you climb back above the line.
Trauma Check (Massive Damage): Take damage from a single hit that equals or exceeds half your hit point maximum and the shock rattles your skull. Make a DC 15 Constitution save or be stunned until the end of your next turn and knocked Prone.

4. The Butcher's Bill (Lingering Injuries)

Every time you are dropped to 0 hit points, the trauma leaves its signature on your body. Even if a surgeon drags you back, the brush with death is permanent. The instant you wake from 0 HP, roll a d20 on the table below and learn what the fight took from you.

Lingering Injuries (d20)
d20	Injury	Mechanical Effect	Recovery
1	Internal Trauma	Something deep is broken. Your maximum Stamina is permanently reduced by 1.	Permanent.
2–3	Lost Eye or Ear	Eye: Disadvantage on sight-based Perception and ranged attacks. Ear: Disadvantage on hearing-based Perception.	Permanent.
4–5	Maimed Limb	Hand: cannot hold items. Foot: speed reduced by 10 ft.	Permanent.
6–8	Shattered Bone	The fracture runs deep. Disadvantage on Athletics and Acrobatics checks.	30 days' bed rest.
9–11	Septic Wound	The cut festers. HP maximum reduced by 3, and you cannot regain HP naturally.	Three DC 14 Medicine checks.
12–13	Deep Gash	Prone to reopening. Disadvantage on Strength and Dexterity checks.	3 days at reduced max HP.
14–15	Cracked Ribs	Every breath is agony. Spending Stamina forces a DC 12 Con save or you take 1 damage.	1 week's rest.
16–17	Concussion	You are Dazed: you cannot use Active features or take Reactions.	1d6 days' rest.
18–19	Rattled Nerves	The memory of the blow lingers. Disadvantage on your first attack roll in every combat.	3 days' rest.
20	Flesh Wound	An impressive scar and a story. No mechanical penalty.	None.

A green boy and a grey-bearded captain bleed out at the same speed. The years never thicken your hide — they only teach you which fights to walk away from. That lesson is the only armor a man grows into.

Rest & the Mending of Wounds

No priest will lay hands on you and make the hole close. Healing here is a slow, filthy business of stitching, cautery, and lying still while your body decides whether to keep you.

The Short Rest

At least an hour spent off your feet in relative safety — helm at your side, weight off the legs. You recover all spent Stamina and shed the Fatigued condition. A Chirurgeon working over you during a short rest can mend flesh as well (see their Path); otherwise the wounds stay as they are.

The Long Rest

At least eight hours of true sleep, fed and under shelter. You recover all Stamina, throw off Fatigued and most short-lived conditions, and reset your once-per-rest features. What a long rest does not do is knit your wounds — see Natural Healing below. And it is not guaranteed: your lifestyle decides whether the night restores you at all (see The Grinding Economy). Sleep in a ditch and the night takes more than it gives.

The Slow Mend

Natural Healing: There are no Hit Dice here and no magic. You regain hit points equal to 1 + your Constitution modifier (minimum of 1) for every full 24 hours of genuine bed rest. Travel, labour, or a fresh wound resets the clock to zero.
Stabilizing the Dying: A creature at 0 HP can be pulled back from the edge with a successful DC 12 Wisdom (Medicine) check or a Healer's Kit.
The Surgeon's Fee: In a town, a hired Maester or surgeon adds an extra 1d4 HP to a day's healing — for a price of roughly 1–5 SP, set by how badly you are broken.
Prosthetics & Adaptations: A character with a Maimed Limb can pay a blacksmith to forge a prosthetic — a hook hand, a reinforced boot. This negates the mechanical penalty, but the limb can never again be trusted with fine work such as lockpicking or bearing a shield.
Tourney Eligibility: A man visibly carrying a Septic Wound or a Shattered Bone may be barred from the lists by the Master of Revels until a healer declares him sound. Glory waits for no cripple.

Brennan took a clean little cut across the forearm at Whitewater. Laughed it off, wouldn't part with the surgeon's silver. Took him nine days to go, raving and stinking the tent out. The wound that kills you is rarely the one that drops you.

The Grinding Economy

No enchanted blades fall from slain beasts. Your coin is your survival. Can you afford to beat the dent from your breastplate? To pay a surgeon to close your gut — or do you risk the fever, sleeping in the mud?

The Silver Standard. This conversion rewrites the worth of coin to match a world of scarcity.

1 Gold Piece (GP) = 10 Silver Pieces (SP). 1 Silver Piece (SP) = 10 Copper Pieces (CP).

Silver is the blood of merchants, mercenaries, and common life. Gold is rare treasure — the stuff of royal ransoms, deeds to land, and the bribing of lords.

The Cost of Survival

The relentless grind of the campaign lives in upkeep: bread, a roof, and the slow toll of going without.

Weekly Lifestyle
Lifestyle	Weekly Cost	The Reality of Your Condition
Squalid	3 Copper	A patch of floor by the hearth, watered ale, stale bread. You survive — but you recover no hit points and no spent Stamina on a long rest. Your body is quietly rotting.
Modest	1 Silver	A cot in a shared room, thick stew, small beer. The honest soldier's lot. You heal as the rules allow and wake fit to face the day.
Comfortable	5 Silver	A private room, a hot bath, roasted meat and wine. True luxury. You wake reinvigorated — gain +1 temporary HP or +1 temporary Stamina for the day.

Renown & the Earning of Power

No one is born a killer of armoured knights. You earn it — one survived battle, one finished contract, one whispered reputation at a time. Power here is bought in blood and remembered names, never handed down.

This conversion has no classes and no levels. You grow by spending Renown Points (RP) — earned by surviving battles, fulfilling contracts, and making your name in the mud and blood of the world — to unlock individual perks from the Paths that follow.

How Perks Are Bought

One at a time. You never buy a whole tier. Each perk is purchased separately, on its own, in whatever order you can afford it.
Cost by tier. A perk costs Renown equal to its tier — a Tier 1 perk costs 1 RP, a Tier 2 perk costs 2 RP, a Tier 3 perk costs 3 RP.
Earn the right to climb. Before you may buy a Tier 2 perk in a given tree, you must already own at least one Tier 1 perk from that same tree. A Tier 3 perk likewise demands a Tier 2 perk already held in that tree. There is no skipping the lower rungs.
Spread thin or dig deep. You may spend across as many Paths as your Renown can pay for. But you belong to only one Core Path — Knight, Outrider, or Scholar — chosen at creation and never traded away.

Forging a Survivor

No one hands you a destiny here. You are assembled from where you came, what you can carry, and what you have already lived through. Build accordingly — the grave is patient.

The Six Steps

1 — Choose an Origin. Your Origin sets your starting silver, your gear, and your place in the world. Pick one of the four below.
2 — Set your Abilities. Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma — by whichever method your table uses (see below).
3 — Derive your survival stats. Your hit point maximum equals your Constitution score. Your maximum Stamina equals 3 + your Constitution modifier (minimum 1). Your base Armor Class comes from your Core Path; your Total DR is the sum of the armor you wear.
4 — Choose your Core Path and spend Renown. Every survivor belongs to exactly one Core Path — Knight, Outrider, or Scholar. Then spend your starting Renown (below).
5 — Buy gear. Spend any leftover silver on weapons, kit, and sundries from the Equipment chapter.
6 — Name yourself and decide what drove you into the mud with a sword in your hand.

Setting Your Abilities

Use whichever your table prefers. Because a single blow can end you, your scores matter more here than in standard play — Constitution literally is your life.

Standard Array: assign 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8.
Point Buy: 27 points, as in standard 5e.
The Hard Way (recommended for the grim tone): roll 4d6, drop the lowest die, six times, and assign as you like. Live with what the dice give you.

Starting Renown. A new survivor begins with 3 Renown to spend across the Core and Martial Paths, and 2 Renown to spend on the Civilian Paths. The usual rules apply: each perk costs RP equal to its tier, and you must own a lower-tier perk in a tree before buying higher in it. Most survivors open their Core Path with at least one perk before branching out.

Origins

Where you came from, and what little you carried out of it. Each Origin lists a fixed kit plus a pair of choices.

The Hedge Knight

You have the training and the beast of burden, but you are one bad winter away from sleeping in the mud.

Starting Wealth — 10 Silver

Kit: a drafted baggage horse or mule (fine for travel, useless in a fight), a shield, a traveler's pack, and a full set of Tier 1 padded armor.

Then choose one of each pair

A. an Arming Sword or B. a Warhammer

A. a Chain Shirt (Tier 2 Torso) or B. a Scale Hauberk (Tier 2 Torso)

The Sellsword

No standing and no mount, but practical gear and enough silver to keep it maintained through a few brutal skirmishes.

Starting Wealth — 25 Silver

Kit: a dungeoneer's pack and a full set of Tier 1 leather/padded armor.

Then choose one of each pair

A. a Mail Coif (Tier 2 Head) and a Brigandine (Tier 2 Torso) or B. a Mail Hauberk (Tier 2 Torso) and a Heavy Kite Shield (+2 AC)

A. a Battleaxe and a Dagger or B. a Heavy Crossbow, 20 bolts, and a Shortsword

The High-Born Squire

Draped in the finest steel, but your purse is practically empty — you sold your horse to pay for your armour's last repair.

Starting Wealth — 5 Silver

Kit: a noble's signet ring, fine clothes, a traveler's pack, and a fine Tier 1 arming doublet with padded hose.

Then choose one of each pair

A. a Tier 3 Plate Breastplate (Torso) or B. a Chain Shirt (Tier 2 Torso) and a Riding Horse

A. a Dueling Sword (Bodkin) or B. an Arming Sword (Forceful)

The Deserter / Scoundrel

You fled the field or the city guard and took the payroll with you. Terrible armour — but liquid silver enough to bribe, buy, and outlast the winter.

Starting Wealth — 50 Silver

Kit: a burglar's pack, a stash of stolen silver (counted in your wealth), and a complete set of Tier 1 armor (gambeson, kettle hat, leather boots).

Then choose one of each pair

A. a Rapier (Bodkin) and a Dagger or B. a Maul and a hunting trap

A. a Shortbow with 20 arrows or B. three throwing axes (Handaxes) and a vial of basic poison

Equipment & Combat Mechanics

Steel is not a stat line. It is the difference between a closed coffin and an open grave.

The Physics of Protection

Armor is no abstract number. It is layered gambeson, riveted mail, and shaped plate, built to drink the lethal kinetic energy of a blow before it reaches the man inside.

A harness fills four slots: Head, Torso, Arms, and Legs. Your Total DR is the sum of all four pieces, and Damage Reduction trims every wound to a minimum of 1.

Armor by Slot
Slot	Tier 1 (+1 DR)	Tier 2 (+2 DR)	Tier 3 (+3 DR)
Head	Padded Cap / Coif (5 SP)	Open-Faced Helm (20 SP)	Visored Great Helm (100 SP)
Torso	Gambeson / Leather (10 SP)	Mail Hauberk (50 SP)	Plate Breastplate (250 SP)
Arms	Leather Sleeves (4 SP)	Mail Bracers (15 SP)	Plate Pauldrons (80 SP)
Legs	Leather Chausses (4 SP)	Mail Leggings (15 SP)	Plate Greaves (80 SP)
Full Set	23 SP (+4 DR)	100 SP (+8 DR)	510 SP (+12 DR)

The Weight You Carry

Protection is paid for in speed and silence. The more steel you wear, the harder you are to miss.

Tier 1 (Light): No penalty to Armor Class.
Tier 2 (Medium): Wear two or more Tier 2 pieces and subtract 1 from AC.
Tier 3 (Heavy): Wear two or more Tier 3 pieces and subtract 2 from AC, with Disadvantage on Stealth checks. Plate does not creep.

The Dented Status: When a blow lands on your harness it leaves its mark — your armor becomes Dented. Each Dent taken in an encounter strips 1 from your Total DR for the rest of that fight. Plate fails the same way men do: one hit at a time.

Good steel is a debt the field always collects. It buys you the blows that would have killed a poorer man — and it weighs you down at the exact moment your legs are the only thing that might save you. Wear it knowing both.

Armory & Properties

Choose your steel by what it must defeat. A blade for unarmoured flesh is a liability against plate; a hammer built to stave in a breastplate is clumsy against a darting skirmisher.

Weapons of the Trade
Weapon	Damage	Cost	Properties
Dagger / Rondel	1d4 Piercing	2 SP	Finesse, Mercy, Light, Precise, Bodkin, Thrown (20/60)
Club / Cudgel	1d4 Bludgeoning	1 SP	Light
Quarterstaff	1d6 Bludgeoning	2 SP	Versatile (1d8)
Shortsword	1d6 Slashing	8 SP	Finesse, Precise, Light
Falchion / Messer	1d8 Slashing	15 SP	Forceful
Rapier / Dueling Sword	1d8 Piercing	25 SP	Finesse, Precise, Bodkin
Arming Sword	1d8 Slashing	20 SP	Precise, Forceful
Longsword	1d8 Slashing	30 SP	Precise, Forceful, Versatile (1d10)
Greatsword	2d6 Slashing	60 SP	Precise, Heavy, Two-Handed, Forceful
Handaxe	1d6 Slashing	5 SP	Hook, Light, Thrown (20/60)
Battleaxe	1d8 Slashing	12 SP	Hook, Versatile (1d10)
Mace	1d6 Bludgeoning	8 SP	Anti-Armor, Light
Flail	1d8 Bludgeoning	18 SP	Anti-Armor, Hook
War Pick	1d8 Piercing	16 SP	Anti-Armor, Bodkin
Warhammer	1d8 Bludgeoning	20 SP	Anti-Armor, Versatile (1d10), Forceful
Spear	1d6 Piercing	4 SP	Finesse, Precise, Reach, Versatile (1d8), Thrown (20/60)
Glaive / Bardiche	1d10 Slashing	40 SP	Reach, Two-Handed, Forceful
Poleaxe / Halberd	1d10 Slashing	45 SP	Reach, Two-Handed, Hook, Anti-Armor
Pike	1d8 Piercing	20 SP	Reach (15 ft), Two-Handed, Heavy
Maul / Greatmace	2d6 Bludgeoning	50 SP	Two-Handed, Heavy, Anti-Armor, Forceful

Shields & Ranged Arms

A shield raises your Armor Class — your chance to avoid the blow — rather than your DR. Bows and crossbows let you bleed a man before he closes; against heavy plate, bring a Bodkin-headed shaft or a crossbow's brute force.

Shields
Shield	Defense	Cost	Notes
Buckler	+1 AC	5 SP	Light. Can be worn without hindering a second weapon.
Heater / Round Shield	+2 AC	12 SP	The common soldier's wall.
Heavy Kite / Tower Shield	+2 AC	20 SP	Grants Half-Cover against ranged attacks while braced. Heavy.

Ranged Arms
Weapon	Damage	Range	Cost	Properties
Sling	1d4 Bludgeoning	30/120	1 SP	Precise
Shortbow	1d6 Piercing	80/320	15 SP	Two-Handed, Precise, Bodkin
Longbow	1d8 Piercing	150/600	40 SP	Two-Handed, Heavy, Precise, Bodkin
Light Crossbow	1d8 Piercing	80/320	25 SP	Two-Handed, Loading, Precise, Forceful
Heavy Crossbow	1d10 Piercing	100/400	50 SP	Two-Handed, Heavy, Loading, Precise, Forceful

Thrown Weapons
Weapon	Damage	Range	Cost	Properties
Throwing Dagger	1d4 Piercing	20/60	2 SP	Finesse, Light, Precise, Thrown
Throwing Axe	1d6 Slashing	20/60	5 SP	Light, Thrown
Javelin	1d6 Piercing	30/120	3 SP	Thrown, Forceful
Throwing Knife (juggler's)	1d4 Piercing	25/75	3 SP	Finesse, Light, Precise, Thrown
Weighted Dart / Plumbata	1d4 Piercing	20/60	2 SP	Finesse, Light, Thrown, Anti-Armor

Loading. A crossbow takes a full Action to crank and reload — without a perk such as the Marksman's Rapid Crank, it fires every other round. All bows and crossbows are Precise (crit on 19–20); a war bow looses a Bodkin shaft built to find the gaps in mail, while a crossbow's brute draw is Forceful enough to punch a minimum wound through anything. A quiver of 20 arrows, bolts, or sling-stones costs 1 SP. A Thrown weapon uses your melee modifier and is gone until retrieved.

Sundries, Kits & Mounts

Common Goods
Item	Cost	Item	Cost
Traveler's Pack	5 SP	Healer's Kit (10 uses)	5 SP
Dungeoneer's Pack	8 SP	Hunting Trap	5 SP
Burglar's Pack	8 SP	Basic Poison (1 vial)	25 SP
Lance (mounted, 1d12)	10 SP	Quiver (20 shafts)	1 SP

Mounts
Mount	Cost	Combat Animal Handling	Notes
Mule / Baggage Horse	30 SP	−1	Built for hauling, not for war — it panics and balks under the press.
Riding Horse	75 SP	+0	Steady and swift on the road; serviceable, if unremarkable, in a fight.
Warhorse (Destrier)	300 SP	+1	Bred and broken for slaughter. Holds its nerve in the charge and the joust.

Mounts in the Fray. The Combat Animal Handling modifier applies to every Strength (Animal Handling) check made while mounted in a fight or a tourney — most importantly your Brace check to keep your seat when struck (see the Tourney chapter).

Alchemy & the Apothecary's Craft

Powder, smoke, and oil are the great equalizer — they do not care how thick a man's plate is. These are crude, commercial consumables any soldier can buy or brew: tools of utility and area control — screening a retreat, denying ground, choking a crowd — rather than killing. They are a different beast from the Alchemist's path abilities, which are precise, potent, single-target combat arts that cost no coin.

Vials & Consumables
Vial	Effect	Buy / Craft
Basic Poison	Coat a blade or 3 shafts. The next hit forces a DC 12 Constitution save or 1d6 poison (ignores DR). Lasts 1 minute once applied.	25 SP / 8 SP
Choking Dust	Thrown, bursts in a 10-ft cube. Every creature inside makes a DC 12 Constitution save or spends its next turn coughing — it may move or act, not both. Area control, no damage.	20 SP / 6 SP
Smoke Pot	Thrown. Fills a 10-ft cube with choking smoke (Total Cover / heavily obscured) for 1 minute or until wind clears it. Screen a retreat or break a line of archers.	15 SP / 5 SP
Caltrops (bag)	Scatter across a 5-ft square as an Action. A creature entering at speed makes a DC 12 Dexterity save or takes 1 piercing and has its speed halved until it spends an Action pulling them free. Area denial.	10 SP / 3 SP
Oil Flask	Thrown. Coats a 5-ft square or one creature in slick oil: the square is difficult ground, and a coated creature takes +1 die of fire damage from the next fire that touches it. Sets up an AoE; no damage alone.	8 SP / 2 SP
Stinkpot	Thrown, 10-ft cube. Creatures inside that fail a DC 11 Constitution save have Disadvantage on attacks until they leave the cloud. Beasts flee it. Soft crowd control.	18 SP / 5 SP
Firepot / Incendiary	Thrown, 5-ft burst. Every creature inside makes a DC 12 Dexterity save or takes 1d6 fire (ignores DR); flammable things and oil-soaked targets catch and burn. Low-damage AoE.	40 SP / 14 SP
Healer's Draught	Drink over a Short Rest to regain 1d6+2 HP. One per rest; the body learns to ignore it.	35 SP / 12 SP
Antitoxin	Drink. Advantage on saves against poison and disease for 1 hour.	25 SP / 8 SP

Brewing a Vial

You need the craft. Only a character with the Alchemist path (or a GM-approved background) may brew. Everyone else must buy.
Reagents and a bench. Crafting costs the listed Craft price in reagents and requires an hour of uninterrupted work per vial at a workbench, campfire still, or apothecary.
The Check. Make an Intelligence check (DC 12 for common vials, DC 15 for the firepot and Healer's Draught). Success yields the vial; failure wastes half the reagents. The Alchemist's Occult Scholar doubles your Proficiency Bonus here.
Batch work. A full day at a proper apothecary lets you attempt up to three vials, one check each.
Shelf life. Brewed volatiles (firepot, choking dust, smoke, oil) keep for one campaign month before they spoil or grow unstable; poisons and draughts keep indefinitely if sealed.

The apothecary in every town sells the same three things under the counter: something to blind a man, something to rot his straps, and something to stop his heart quiet. Pay the markup or learn the recipes — but never carry the fire-pots loose in the same satchel as the flint.

Bring a rapier against a man in plate and you'll spend the whole fight carving pretty scratches while he stoves in your skull. Know what stands in front of you before you decide what to hold. The wrong tool is just a slower way to die.

Core Paths: The Foundation

Before you ever learned a master's trick or an alchemist's recipe, you had to live through your first skirmish in the mud. Your Core Path is the brutal conditioning that kept you breathing when the men beside you stopped.

Rule of Origin. Every survivor chooses exactly one Core Path at character creation. You cannot take a second. This is your baseline — it defines how you avoid death and how much life you carry into the fight. The three roads are the Knight, the Outrider, and the Scholar.

Spending Renown. Every ability below is bought separately with Renown Points — a perk costs RP equal to its tier (1 / 2 / 3). To reach a higher tier in a tree, you must already hold a perk from the tier beneath it. See Renown & the Earning of Power in the Core Rules.

Path of the Knight

You were drilled to stand the line. Disgraced noble, hardened mercenary, or dutiful man-at-arms — it makes no difference. You learned that survival means carrying the crushing weight of steel and eating blows that would fold lesser men in half. You are the thing that does not break.

Tier 1 — The Man-at-Arms1 RP / perk

1 RP Passive — Armor Mastery: You move naturally inside a harness. While wearing armor, your AC becomes 12 + your Dexterity modifier.
1 RP Passive — Hardened Vitality: Your body soaks trauma that should kill. Your hit point maximum increases by +5.

Tier 2 — The Veteran2 RP / perk

2 RP Passive — Extra Attack: Drilled muscle moves on its own. Whenever you take the Attack action, you strike twice instead of once.
2 RP Passive — Stalwart: Your wind holds even under steel. Your maximum Stamina increases by +2.

Tier 3 — The Paragon3 RP / perk

3 RP Passive — Indomitable: You are simply too stubborn to die. When damage would drop you to 0 hit points, you may drop to 1 instead. Once per long rest.
3 RP Passive — Master of the Field: You have seen every dirty trick the field has. Gain a +2 bonus to Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution saving throws.

Path of the Outrider

"Armor slows you down. If they can't catch you, they can't bleed you." Skirmisher, assassin, scout — you lack the meat to win a stand-up brawl, so you don't fight one. You live by footwork, by dodging, by dictating where and when the steel meets. You strike the soft places and you are gone before the answer comes.

Tier 1 — The Skirmisher1 RP / perk

1 RP Passive — Skirmisher's Pace: Speed is your armor. While wearing Tier 1 armor or none, your AC becomes 11 + your Dexterity modifier, and you may take the Dash or Disengage action as a Bonus Action.
1 RP Passive — First to Draw: You move before the enemy knows it has begun. You roll Initiative with Advantage.

Tier 2 — The Scrapper2 RP / perk

2 RP Passive — Opportunist's Strike: You know exactly where the gaps in a harness lie. Once per turn, if you hit with Advantage (or while an ally is within 5 feet of the target), deal an extra 1d6 damage.
2 RP Passive — Second Wind: Your lungs burn, but your legs keep moving. Your maximum Stamina increases by +2.

Tier 3 — The Untouchable3 RP / perk

3 RP Passive — Evasion: You have an animal's sense for danger. When an effect allows a Dexterity save for half damage, you take none on a success and half on a failure.
3 RP Passive — Master of the Fringes: You live by sidestepping traps both physical and social. Gain a +2 bonus to Dexterity, Intelligence, and Charisma saving throws.

Path of the Scholar

You are not the sharpest blade in the company — you are the reason the sharp blades are still alive. While others trade wounds, you read the field, bend the tempo of the fight, and put the right tool in the right hand a heartbeat before it is needed. Wars turn on men like you, and the songs never mention your name.

Tier 1 — The Pragmatist1 RP / perk

1 RP Passive — Deep Reserves: Your discipline outlasts your muscle. Your maximum Stamina increases by +3.
1 RP Passive — Fast Hands: You can use items and potions as a Bonus Action.
1 RP Passive — Calculated Trajectory: Cold geometry, not brute force. Use Intelligence or Wisdom for the attack rolls of thrown weapons and slings. You add no ability modifier to their damage.

Tier 2 — The Coordinator2 RP / perk

2 RP Passive — Field Advice: A word at the right moment is worth a sword arm. You may take the Help action on an ally up to 30 feet away, and that ally recovers 1 Stamina.
2 RP Passive — Polymath: Your study runs deep. Double your Proficiency Bonus in two chosen skills.

Tier 3 — The Specialist3 RP / perk

3 RP Passive — Desperate Genius: You wrench a botched moment back into shape. Spend 1 Stamina to turn a d20 roll of 1–3 into a 15.
3 RP Passive — Master of the Mind: Your reason is a fortress. Gain a +2 bonus to Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws, and you are immune to being Frightened.

Martial Paths

Advancement here is classless and earned in blood. You grow by spending Renown Points on the techniques and masteries of these trees. You cannot reach for a higher tier until you hold the one beneath it.

Path of the Blade

The sword is a weapon of prestige and lethal geometry. You wield the whole of it — edge, flat, crossguard, and pommel — and you take an opponent apart the way a butcher takes apart a carcass: with knowledge of exactly where the joints are.

Tier 1 — The Edge1 RP / perk

1 RP Active — Pommel Strike (1 Stamina): As a Bonus Action after a hit, drive the pommel home. The target makes a DC 12 Con save or is Dazed and rolls its next attack with Disadvantage.

Tier 2 — The Half-Sword2 RP / perk

2 RP Active — Half-Swording (1 Stamina): You choke up on the blade and drive the point into the gaps. Your attacks gain the Anti-Armor property until the start of your next turn.

Tier 3 — The Master3 RP / perk

3 RP Active — The Mordhau (2 Stamina): Action (Longsword or Greatsword). Grip the blade and swing the heavy crossguard like a mace. Deal Bludgeoning damage that ignores half the target's Total DR.
3 RP Passive — Blade Mastery: Double your Proficiency Bonus on attack rolls with swords.

Path of the Haft

Armor is thick, but the bone beneath it still breaks. Axe, hammer, and polearm are the great levellers of the field — built to crumple a breastplate and drag a haughty knight down into the mud where he can be finished.

Tier 1 — The Hook1 RP / perk

1 RP Active — Hooking Strike (1 Stamina): Make a melee attack that deals no damage; instead the target makes a Strength save. On a failure they are dragged 5 ft toward you or knocked Prone, and your next attack against them has Advantage.

Tier 2 — The Breach2 RP / perk

2 RP Active — The Can-Opener (2 Stamina): You put your whole weight behind one rivet. Your next attack ignores half the target's Total DR (rounded down).

Tier 3 — The Earthbreaker3 RP / perk

3 RP Active — Earth-Shatter (2 Stamina): As an Action, slam your weapon into the ground. Every creature within 5 ft makes a Dexterity save or is knocked Prone and takes 1d6 bludgeoning damage.
3 RP Passive — Haft Mastery: You understand the physics of the swing. Double your Proficiency Bonus on attack rolls with hafted weapons.

Path of the Bulwark

A shield is not a thing to cower behind. It is a weapon, a wall, and a statement of defiance. You decide where the battle flows and you hold the line long after the men beside you have run.

Tier 1 — The Wall1 RP / perk

1 RP Active — Shield Bash (1 Stamina): Bonus Action after the Attack action. The target makes a Strength save or is knocked Prone or shoved 5 feet.
1 RP Passive — Iron Sentinel: Your bulk is an obstacle. The ground within 5 feet of you is difficult terrain for enemies.

Tier 2 — The Anvil2 RP / perk

2 RP Active — Brace for Impact (1 Stamina): Reaction when hit. Set your weight and gain +4 Total DR against that one attack. If this reduces the damage to 0, you take no Dent.
2 RP Active — Mocking Clatter (1 Stamina): Bonus Action. Beat your weapon on your shield. The target makes a Wisdom save or is Goaded.

Tier 3 — The Phalanx3 RP / perk

3 RP Active — Phalanx Stand (2 Stamina): Action. You and allies within 5 ft gain Half-Cover until your next turn. You cannot be forcibly moved or knocked Prone, and you may use your Reaction to take a hit meant for an adjacent ally.
3 RP Passive — Bulwark Mastery: While wielding a shield, double your Proficiency Bonus and add it to your AC.

Path of the Duelist

You win with misdirection, with the exposed joint, with the counter that lands while the enemy is still committed to his own blow. This road favours the Finesse trait and rewards those who stay mobile and sharp-eyed.

Tier 1 — The Feint1 RP / perk

1 RP Active — The Feint (1 Stamina): Bonus Action. Deception vs Insight. Win to gain Bodkin (or ignore 5 DR) on your next attack.
1 RP Active — Voiding the Line (1 Stamina): Reaction on an enemy's miss. Move 5 ft without provoking, and gain Advantage on your next attack against them.

Tier 2 — The Bind2 RP / perk

2 RP Active — The Bind (1 Stamina): Action. A contested attack roll. Win to bind the enemy's weapon (speed 0, cannot attack) and gain Advantage with Light or Mercy weapons.
2 RP Active — The Draw Cut (1 Stamina): When you miss AC by 2 or less, spend 1 Stamina to deal 1d4 Slashing (ignores DR) as you drag the edge across an exposed joint.

Tier 3 — The Riposte3 RP / perk

3 RP Active — Master's Riposte (2 Stamina): Reaction when hit. Angle the blade to deflect, taking half damage, then make an immediate counter-attack.
3 RP Passive — Duelist Mastery: In Tier 1 armor or none, add your Charisma modifier to your AC.

Path of the Brawler

When swords skip off plate, the fight goes to the ground — and the ground belongs to you. You are a master of leverage, of the tackle, of the close, claustrophobic terror of dirty fighting where reputation counts for nothing.

Tier 1 — The Clinch1 RP / perk

1 RP Active — The Iron Tackle (1 Stamina): When you succeed on a Clinch check, you may immediately drive the target into a Pin as part of the same action.

Tier 2 — The Gore2 RP / perk

2 RP Active — Gore (1 Stamina): In a Clinch or Pin, slam your helm into their face. Deal 1d4 + Strength bludgeoning; the target makes a DC 12 Con save or is stunned until your next turn.

Tier 3 — The Killing Ground3 RP / perk

3 RP Active — Kidney Strike (2 Stamina): In a Pin, slip a dagger into a soft spot. The target takes 1d6 internal damage (ignores DR) at the start of its next three turns.
3 RP Active — The Reversal (2 Stamina): When an enemy fails a Clinch or Pin check against you, spend 2 Stamina to reverse the momentum entirely and instantly Pin them.
3 RP Passive — Brawler Mastery: Double your Proficiency Bonus on Athletics checks made to grapple.

Path of the Alchemist

Chemical warfare and cruel little tricks. Plague doctor, hedge witch, mad sapper — you bypass steel entirely with volatile powders, choking smoke, and things that eat through straps and skin alike.

Tier 1 — Powder & Glass1 RP / perk

1 RP Active — Flash Powder (1 Stamina): Action. Hurl lye and ground glass, 10 ft range. Dexterity save or Blinded until the end of its next turn.
1 RP Active — Numbing Draught (1 Stamina): Bonus Action. The target ignores the next 3 points of damage it takes.

Tier 2 — Acid & Venom2 RP / perk

2 RP Active — Corrosive Vial (1 Stamina): Ranged attack. 1d4 Acid (ignores DR); the armor takes 2 Dents as the straps hiss and melt.
2 RP Passive — Toxicologist: You coat your blades in filth. Once per turn, Bodkin hits deal +1d4 Poison (ignores DR).

Tier 3 — Fire3 RP / perk

3 RP Active — Dragon's Breath (2 Stamina): Action. Ignite volatile powder in a 15 ft cone. Dexterity save or 2d6 Fire (ignores DR), half on a success.
3 RP Passive — Occult Scholar: Double your Proficiency Bonus on checks involving alchemy, history, poison-craft, and the identifying of herbs.

Path of the Occultist

"Fear is more effective than any blade." You break the mind before the body — cursed whispers, nerve-strikes that find the body's hidden wiring, and a calm in slaughter that unmans braver men.

Tier 1 — The Whisper1 RP / perk

1 RP Active — The Hex (1 Stamina): Insight vs Intimidation. Whisper a cursed trigger; the target is Frightened until your next turn.
1 RP Active — Adrenaline Surge (0 Stamina): Bonus Action. Override your body's safety locks. Take 2 internal damage (ignores DR) to instantly recover 1 Stamina.

Tier 2 — The Nerve2 RP / perk

2 RP Active — Nerve Strike (1 Stamina): Hit with a Light or Precise weapon; the target deals half damage on its next melee attack.
2 RP Passive — Cold-Blooded: You have seen worse than this. Advantage on saves against being Frightened or Dazed.

Tier 3 — The Knell3 RP / perk

3 RP Active — The Death Knell (2 Stamina): Reaction on a kill. Perform a brutal execution; enemies within 15 ft make a DC 14 Wisdom save or are stunned with terror until their next turn.
3 RP Passive — Anatomical Mastery: You see only weak points in meat and bone. With a Precise or Bodkin weapon, your Critical Hit range widens by 1 (a 19–20 crit becomes 18–20).

Path of the Marksman

You are the reason knights carry heavy shields. You own the distance, you choose the range of the engagement, and you peel a man's armor open before he is ever close enough to make you nervous.

Tier 1 — The Aim1 RP / perk

1 RP Active — Aimed Shot: Bonus Action if you have not moved. +2 to your next ranged attack roll.
1 RP Active — Rapid Crank (1 Stamina): Bonus Action to reload a Heavy Crossbow.

Tier 2 — The Crippling Shot2 RP / perk

2 RP Active — Pinning Shot (1 Stamina): Aim for the thigh. On a hit, the target makes a Con save or its speed is 0 until the end of its next turn.
2 RP Passive — Point-Blank: You keep your nerve up close. Being within 5 ft of an enemy does not impose Disadvantage on your ranged attacks.

Tier 3 — The Kill3 RP / perk

3 RP Active — Through the Visor (2 Stamina): On a hit, ignore half DR (Bow) or deal 2 Dents (Crossbow). The target is Dazed.
3 RP Passive — Marksman Mastery: Double your Proficiency Bonus on ranged attack rolls.

Path of the Thrower

A whirl of steel from a fairground tumbler's hands — and then the laughter stops. You turn knives, axes, and weighted darts into a storm of edges, putting three blades in a man before he closes the gap. The crowd calls it a trick. The dying call it something else.

Tier 1 — The Juggler1 RP / perk

1 RP Active — Quick Draw (1 Stamina): Bonus Action. Draw and hurl a second Thrown weapon, making one extra thrown attack this turn.
1 RP Passive — Deep Pockets: You never run dry mid-fight. You are assumed to have a thrown weapon ready as long as you had a bandolier at the start of the encounter, and drawing one is free.

Tier 2 — The Knife-Storm2 RP / perk

2 RP Active — Fan of Blades (2 Stamina): Action. Loose a spray at up to three targets within 15 ft of each other; make a separate thrown attack against each at −2.
2 RP Passive — Ricochet: Your eye for angles ignores Half-Cover and Three-Quarters Cover with thrown weapons.

Tier 3 — The Showstopper3 RP / perk

3 RP Active — Pin the Card (2 Stamina): A called shot to hand or eye. On a hit, the target makes a DC 14 save or is Goaded and drops a held item, or is Blinded until the end of its next turn.
3 RP Passive — Thrower Mastery: Double your Proficiency Bonus on attack rolls with Thrown weapons, and their short range increases by 10 ft.

Path of the Spur

You are a creature of kinetic impact. You read a charging destrier and a couched lance the way other men read a page. This road rules both the tournament lists and the open-field cavalry charge, where the lesson is the same: hit first, hit hardest, stay in the saddle.

Tier 1 — The Rider1 RP / perk

1 RP Active — Collected Seat (1 Stamina): Reaction when hit while mounted. Lock your thighs and brace. Gain Advantage on your Brace check to keep your seat.
1 RP Active — The Tell (1 Stamina): Watch the enemy's shoulders. Roll Wisdom (Insight) to read an opponent's maneuver with Advantage before the clash.

Tier 2 — The Lancer2 RP / perk

2 RP Active — Shattering Couch (1 Stamina): When you land a charging mounted hit, you angle the lance perfectly. The attack gains the Anti-Armor property.
2 RP Passive — Born to the Saddle: The horse is an extension of your body. Double your Proficiency Bonus on Strength and Wisdom (Animal Handling) checks.

Tier 3 — The Champion3 RP / perk

3 RP Active — Master of the Tilt (2 Stamina): When you choose a maneuver with a −5 penalty, your skill reduces that penalty to −3.
3 RP Passive — Unflinching: You do not blink when the wood splinters. When using Eyes Fixed (or taking head trauma), roll the injury twice and take the kinder result. Mounted attacks score a critical hit on a 19–20.

Civilian & Support Paths

Wars are won by logistics, intelligence, triage, and morale — not by heroics. These paths decide your worth when the swords are sheathed, and prove that not every battle is fought on a blood-soaked field.

Path of the Devout

In a world without healing magic, faith and fast hands are what keep soldiers on their feet. You are the shepherd of the wounded, dragging order out of the screaming chaos of the line through sheer conviction.

Tier 1 — The Field Medic1 RP / perk

1 RP Active — Battlefield Triage (1 Stamina): As an Action, bind a wound or pop a joint back. A touched ally recovers HP equal to your Proficiency Bonus.
1 RP Active — Zealous Rally (1 Stamina): Bonus Action. Shout a prayer or a war-cry. Transfer 1 Stamina from yourself to an ally within 30 feet.

Tier 2 — The Confessor2 RP / perk

2 RP Active — Absolution (1 Stamina): Bonus Action. Snap an ally out of shock. End one condition (Dazed, stunned, or Frightened) on a touched creature.
2 RP Passive — Iron Faith: Your belief hardens your mind. Advantage on saves against fear and intimidation.

Tier 3 — The Miracle3 RP / perk

3 RP Active — The Miracle (2 Stamina): Reaction when an ally drops to 0 HP. You scream a desperate prayer; they drop to 1 HP instead and may immediately crawl 5 feet.
3 RP Passive — Medicus Mastery: Double your Proficiency Bonus on Medicine checks. When you use Battlefield Triage, also restore 1 Stamina to the target.

Path of the Smith

"For arms or armor to be truly great, a smith must beat part of his soul and blood into them." Steel is the currency of survival, and you are the one who keeps the warrior inside the steel alive to see another grey dawn.

Tier 1 — Small Repairs1 RP / perk

1 RP Active — Field Craft: Craft and perform minor repairs on Tier 1 arms and armor at half their market cost in materials.
1 RP Passive — Basic Maintenance: You oil and tend your gear like a second body. Your Total DR is increased by 1.

Tier 2 — Large Repairs2 RP / perk

2 RP Active — Precision Craft: Craft and repair Tier 2 arms and armor at half market cost.
2 RP Passive — Rivet Master: Add your Proficiency Bonus to your post-battle Wear and Tear rolls.

Tier 3 — Master of the Forge3 RP / perk

3 RP Active — Master Craft: Craft and fully repair Tier 3 arms and armor at half cost.
3 RP Passive — Forge Lord: When crafting gear, add one non-magical weapon property, increase armor DR by 1, or decrease a Strength requirement by 2. On a natural 20 crafting roll, the item is Legendary (its damage dice or DR is doubled).

Path of the Chirurgeon

"All those years staring into holes in the wrong places finally paid off." You are a grim but indispensable battlefield surgeon — bonesaw, hot iron, and a steady hand while the patient screams.

Tier 1 — Light Injury1 RP / perk

1 RP Active — Field Dressings: Stabilize a creature at 0 HP as a Bonus Action (DC 10 Medicine check).
1 RP Passive — Triage Care: When you tend a patient during a short rest, they recover an extra 1d6 HP.

Tier 2 — Bad Injury2 RP / perk

2 RP Active — Expert Suturing: Gain proficiency in Medicine. Your stabilize DC becomes 8.
2 RP Passive — Rapid Recovery: When you tend a patient during a long rest, they recover an extra 2d6 HP.

Tier 3 — Full Heal3 RP / perk

3 RP Active — A Draught of Sleep (2 Stamina): Bonus Action. Consume poppy milk and gain resistance to all damage until you fall unconscious. Make ascending Con saves every turn.
3 RP Passive — Master Maester: Long-rest tending recovers an extra 3d6 HP, and you can craft working prosthetics for maimed limbs.

Path of the Animal Tender

Beasts do not lie, betray, or hoard silver. You have forged a bond with the creatures of the wild and the burdened beasts of the road — and in a world this treacherous, that is no small thing.

Tier 1 — Pack Bond1 RP / perk

1 RP Active: Recruit an animal companion if you best it in combat without taking damage.
1 RP Passive: Add +1 to any roll involving the care, riding, or commanding of animals.

Tier 2 — Beastmaster2 RP / perk

2 RP Active: Recruit larger animals if you best them in combat while holding above 50% HP.
2 RP Passive: Make a Wisdom (Animal Handling) check to save your companion from death or maiming.

Tier 3 — Alpha3 RP / perk

3 RP Active: Your animals grant you Advantage on checks made while working in tandem.
3 RP Passive: Increase your companion animal's base stats by half.

Path of the Merrymaker

"You're my friend now. We're having ales later." You navigate the deadly web of medieval society by ensuring everyone is having far too good a time to remember they meant to slit your throat.

Tier 1 — Friends in Low Places1 RP / perk

1 RP Active — Soft Diplomacy: Roll 1d6 to determine how commoners and guards treat you (a secret GM roll).
1 RP Passive — Charismatic Presence: Advantage on your first Charisma check against any creature.

Tier 2 — Friends in Some Places2 RP / perk

2 RP Active — Guild Connections: Add +1 to Soft Diplomacy rolls against middling folk of standing.
2 RP Passive — Debt of Renown: Call upon an NPC to fulfil a reasonable favour with no check.

Tier 3 — Friends in High Places3 RP / perk

3 RP Active — Legendary Revelry (2 Stamina): Throw a vast event that draws high-standing NPCs. Advantage on Charisma checks for 1d4 hours.
3 RP Passive — Lordly Connections: Your name now opens doors among the great. Add a further +2 to your Soft Diplomacy rolls.

Path of the Bookie

In a world of mud and blood, coin is the only true king. You see life through odds, over-unders, and calculated risk — and you have never once let sentiment cost you a wager.

Tier 1 — Small Bets1 RP / perk

1 RP Active: Make wagers on upcoming events of up to 1 GP.
1 RP Passive: Grant a 1d6 Inspiration die to the side of the event you have bet on.

Tier 2 — Large Bets2 RP / perk

2 RP Active: Make wagers of up to 100 GP on upcoming events.
2 RP Passive: Impose Advantage or Disadvantage once during an event you have bet on.

Tier 3 — Life-Changing Money3 RP / perk

3 RP Active: Make wagers of any size, backed by your coffers and your deeds.
3 RP Passive: You may legally back out of a bet so long as the event is not decisively over.

Path of the Little Bird

Secrets cut sharper than bodkin arrows. You deal in the only currency that never loses value — whispers, blackmail, and the quiet leverage that turns lords into puppets.

Tier 1 — Finding Flaws1 RP / perk

1 RP Active: Roll Insight with Disadvantage vs Stealth to reveal an actionable secret.
1 RP Passive: Advantage on intelligence-gathering checks when first arriving in a new location.

Tier 2 — Uncovering Sin2 RP / perk

2 RP Active: Roll Insight vs Stealth to uncover a major, faction-altering secret.
2 RP Passive: Advantage on Insight checks concerning places, architecture, or public events.

Tier 3 — The Kingmaker3 RP / perk

3 RP Active: You unearth a devastating vulnerability that grants you absolute leverage over a target's life.

Path of the Saboteur

A fair fight is a strategy for fools and corpses. You wage asymmetrical war, ensuring the enemy is already broken — supplies fouled, nerves frayed, plans unravelled — before the first sword ever clears its sheath.

Tier 1 — Targeted Sabotage1 RP / perk

1 RP Active: An enemy has Disadvantage on its first turn in combat, or −1 to all rolls during the next battle.
1 RP Passive: Gain Advantage on your first turn against them, or +1 to all your rolls against them.

Tier 2 — Group Sabotage2 RP / perk

2 RP Active / Passive: Apply the Tier 1 effects to an entire enemy group or squad.

Tier 3 — Event Sabotage3 RP / perk

3 RP Active / Passive: Apply the Tier 1 effects to an entire enemy army or major faction force.

Tourney & Jousting

The tourney is the highborn's mirror of the slaughter in the mud — the same broken bones and ruined faces, dressed in heraldry and cheered by a crowd. The lists hold more than the tilt: the grand melee, the foot combat, and the archery butts each offer glory, gold, and ruin. A splinter through the visor kills a lord exactly as it kills a peasant.

Rules of the Tilt

Attacks & Initiative: Each rider carries a shield (+2 AC) and a lance (1d12, Strength). Attacks resolve simultaneously on every pass — it is entirely possible for both riders to put each other in the dirt at once.

Hits & Brace Checks: When a lance finds you, make a Brace Check: a Strength (Animal Handling) check against a DC equal to the damage taken. Fail, and you are unhorsed and beaten.

Victory: Passes repeat until someone is unhorsed, or until a rider breaks three lances — three solid hits landed without falling.

The Passes (Maneuvers)

Before the destriers close, a rider locks into a stance. On each pass, choose one:

Aggressive: +5 to attack, −5 to AC.
Defensive: −5 to attack, +5 to AC.
Braced: −5 to attack, +5 to Animal Handling (Brace checks).
High in Saddle: +5 to attack, −5 to Animal Handling (Brace checks).
Eyes Fixed: +5 to attack. High risk. If hit, roll a d20 — on a 1, lose the left eye; on a 2, the right; on a 3–4, a Horrible Scar; on a 5–10, a Minor Scar.

The Spur. The mounted combat path, Path of the Spur, now lives among the Martial Paths — its perks serve the open-field charge as much as the tilt. Everything here governs the tourney itself.

The Grand Melee

The tilt is theatre; the melee is war with the killing filed off — a churning press of forty riders and footmen laying into one another with blunted steel until one team, or one last man, is left standing. Bones still break. Men still die. The crowd loves it more than the joust.

Running the Melee

Blunted Arms (Á Plaisance): tourney weapons are rebated. They deal damage as normal but a fighter reduced to 0 HP is yielded — beaten and out of the event, not dead. A combatant may instead declare sharp steel (Á Outrance), in which a death is lawful and the stakes are real.
Teams or Free-for-All: melees run as two mock companies or as every-fighter-for-themselves. Roll Initiative as normal; the field is chaos, so a fighter may face attacks from several sides at once.
Yielding: at any point a fighter may yield as a free action — raising a hand ends their part. A fighter dropped to 0 in blunted play automatically yields.
Ransoms: a fighter who beats another may claim their horse and harness — or the silver to buy them back. This is how a poor sellsword leaves a tourney rich, and a proud knight leaves it on foot. A typical ransom runs 50–250 SP by the loser's gear.
Renown: the last fighter or winning team earns 1–3 Renown; a commoner who unhorses a titled knight earns it twice over.

Melee Tactics

The Press: while three or more fighters are within 5 ft of you, you have Disadvantage on attacks with Reach or Two-Handed weapons — there is no room to swing.
Singled Out: a fighter attacked by two or more foes at once grants those attackers Advantage (the field's version of flanking).
Grappling is fully legal and brutally effective; an armoured man dragged down in the press is finished (see The Art of the Wrestle).

The Pas d'Armes (Foot Combat)

A duel of honour on the lists, fought on foot to a set number of blows or until one yields. Less lethal than the melee, more personal than the tilt — and the surest way for two rivals to settle a grudge before a watching court.

Rules of the Foot Combat

Weapons of the Bout: both fighters agree on the arm — blunted poleaxe, sword, or spear is traditional. Each then fights a standard combat, but to a count of blows rather than to the death.
Counting Blows: the bout is won by the first to land an agreed number of clean hits (commonly three), or by forcing a yield. A hit that would reduce a fighter below half HP counts as two.
No Quarter Needed: because it is fought to blows, a Pas d'Armes rarely maims — but an Á Outrance challenge with sharp steel turns it into a true Trauma Check affair, and the loser may not rise.
Judges: a marshal calls disputed blows. Cheating — a concealed point, a coated edge — is grounds for disgrace and a barred name.

The Archery & Cast

Not all glory is won at arm's length. The butts draw fletchers, poachers, and the odd disguised lord, all loosing at the painted ring while the crowd jeers every miss.

The Contest of the Butts

The Shot: each round, make a ranged attack against a target AC set by distance — AC 12 (near), 15 (the wand), 18 (the distant mark). The Precise property earns its keep here.
Elimination: archers shoot in rounds; a miss is out. Ties at the long mark are settled by moving the target back (+2 AC per move) until one stands.
The Cast: a thrown-weapon variant uses the Thrower's arts — axe, knife, or dart at the same marks. A juggler's flourish (the crowd's favour) can be milked for a free Renown on a clean sweep.

I saw a baker's son take the archery three years running, then vanish before the lord could offer him a place in the guard. Some men shoot for the purse. Some shoot to be remembered. The dangerous ones shoot so no one remembers their face at all.

The Master of the Field

Your job is not to defeat the players. It is to make the world honest — to ensure that steel is heavy, silver is scarce, and every choice has a weight the players can feel. Be fair, be merciless, and let the dice fall where they may.

The Lethality Dial

Steel & Mud is deadlier and swingier than standard play. Static HP means even a veteran can be dropped by two solid hits; Damage Reduction means an armoured foe can shrug off a dozen poor ones. Combat is less a war of attrition and more a knife's edge — it turns on positioning, the right weapon, and who lands the first telling blow. Lean into that. Telegraph danger, reward cleverness and retreat, and make sure your players understand before session one that running, yielding, and fighting dirty are all valid, expected survival skills.

Building a Fight

Action economy rules everything. With small HP pools, the number of bodies on each side matters far more than raw stats. Three mediocre attackers are deadlier than one tough one. Budget encounters by bodies and tactics, not by a tidy XP sum.
Armour, not numbers, makes a foe "tough." To build a frightening enemy, give them DR and a reason the party must close and dismantle them — not a bloated hit-point total. A single knight in full plate is a puzzle; solve-by-grapple, by Anti-Armor, by Bodkin.
Mooks fold. Give common foes a Constitution-score HP pool (often 8–12) so they die when they should. Reserve resilience for named threats.
Mix the threats. A line of cheap levies plus one armoured serjeant plus a crossbowman on a wall forces the party to make hard target-priority calls. That is the game.

Reaction & Morale

Not every meeting is a fight, and not every fight is to the death. These two rolls keep the world from behaving like a video game — and keep your players guessing.

Reaction Roll (2d6, on first meeting an uncertain NPC)
2d6	Disposition
2	Hostile — moves to attack or threaten outright.
3–5	Wary — unfriendly, suspicious, wants you gone.
6–8	Neutral — uncertain, open to talk or trade.
9–11	Amenable — willing to deal, help for a price.
12	Warm — friendly, helpful, takes a liking to you.

Morale Checks

Living things do not fight to the last unless cornered or fanatical. When a side first takes a death, drops to half strength, or loses its leader, roll 2d6 for them. If the roll exceeds their Morale rating, they break — they flee, surrender, or beg for terms.

Rating 6: levies, bandits, the press-ganged and the desperate.
Rating 8: seasoned soldiers and most sellswords.
Rating 10: veterans, knights, zealots, and the cornered.
Rating 12: fanatics and beasts that know no fear.

Pacing Renown & Silver

These are your two throttles on power. Renown buys ability; silver buys survival. Hand out either too freely and the grim tone evaporates.

Awarding Renown

Rule of thumb: 1 Renown for a hard session survived; 1–3 for completing a contract, winning a notable duel or tourney, or pulling off something the world will remember.
Renown is reputation, not XP. Tie it to deeds others witness or hear of. A quiet murder earns less than a public one — fame, not virtue, is the currency.
At this rate a survivor opens a new perk every couple of sessions, which keeps the power curve slow and the danger real.

The Silver Brake

A full set of Tier 3 plate runs over 500 SP. That is meant to be a long campaign goal, not a second-session purchase. Price your loot against it.
Remember upkeep: lodging, repairs, surgeons, and bribes should quietly eat the purse, so coin keeps mattering long after the first big haul.
Treasure is mostly coin, gear, and leverage — not magic. A masterwork weapon, a deed to land, or a noble's ransom is a far bigger prize here than a +1 anything.

Downtime, Factions & the Long Game

Between contracts, let characters spend silver and time: maintaining and crafting gear (Smith), recovering from Lingering Injuries (Chirurgeon), carousing and building Renown (Merrymaker), gathering secrets (Little Bird), or placing wagers (Bookie). Track standing with the powers of your world — guilds, lords, companies, the Church — as a simple favour/debt ledger; the social paths feed directly into it. At high Renown, the natural endgame is a holding of one's own: a company to captain, a keep to garrison, land to defend. Let ambitious survivors graduate from killing for coin to commanding those who do.

Converting D&D 5e Content

Steel & Mud is an addendum, not a replacement — any 5e bestiary or adventure works once you pass its monsters through two quick conversions and decide what to do about magic. The Bestiary already has the common threats done for you.

Converting a 5e Stat Block
Element	Do This
Hit Points	Humanoid foes: use the creature's Constitution score (like a PC). Beasts and monsters: take roughly one-third of the book HP, rounded. The goal is mortal, not spongy.
Armor Class	Strip armour out of AC and turn it into DR (below). The creature's new AC is just its dodge: 10 + its Dexterity modifier (plus a shield or natural agility).
Damage Reduction	Assign DR from how armoured the thing is — see the quick table. DR soaks damage to a minimum of 1.
Attacks & Saves	Leave attack bonuses, save DCs, and damage dice as written. DR will quietly rebalance the lethality.
Spells	In a low-magic world, cut or reskin. Enemy casters become alchemists, hedge-witches, or occultists; treat any true magic as rare and unsettling (see below).

Old AC → DR (quick conversion)
Original AC	Suggested DR	Looks Like
10–11	0	Unarmoured
12–13	2	Padded / hide
14–15	4	Mail or thick hide
16–17	6–8	Heavy mail / partial plate / scaled beast
18+	10–12	Full plate or a monstrous carapace

These numbers are a starting point. Convert one or two of your favourite monsters, run a test fight, and adjust DR up or down until the violence feels right at your table. Steel & Mud rewards tuning by feel.

Magic & the Weird

This world has no fireballs on tap and no resurrection. If the supernatural appears at all, it should arrive rare, costly, and frightening — a hedge-witch's curse, a relic that demands blood, a thing in the dark that should not move the way it moves. Keep it that way and the smallest miracle stays genuinely terrifying. The Occultist and Alchemist paths give you a grounded, "is-it-real?" register to work in; treat anything beyond that as a campaign event, not a shopping list.

Death, Injury & the Table's Buy-In

Lingering Injuries and quick deaths only land if the table has agreed to play that kind of game. Say so plainly up front. Let players name what they will risk and what they hope to build, lean on Origins and Renown to give them stakes, and when the dice finally take someone, make the death mean something — a held line, a covered retreat, a name the company will remember. That is the whole promise of the mud: not that you cannot die, but that dying counts.

A Field Bestiary

Traits Pack Tactics. A shaggy horror the size of a pony; the wolf of the deep wood and the old stories.

Brown Bear

Large beast · Morale 8

HP 12AC 10DR 1Speed 40 ft

STR

DEX

CON

INT

WIS

CHA

Attacks Multiattack: Bite +6, 1d8+4, and Claws +6, 2d6+4.

Traits Keen Smell. Wrathful: while below half HP, its Claws deal an extra 1d6.

Gear & Notes Thick hide turns light blows. Rarely fights to the death unless cornered or guarding cubs.

Wild Boar

Medium beast · Morale 8

HP 6AC 11DR 1Speed 40 ft

STR

DEX

CON

INT

WIS

CHA

Attacks Tusk +3, 1d6+1 slashing. Charge: 20+ ft adds 1d6 and forces a DC 11 Strength save or Prone.

Traits Relentless: the first time a hit of 7 or less would drop it, it stays at 1 HP instead.

Aurochs (Wild Bull)

Large beast · Morale 7

HP 14AC 10DR 1Speed 50 ft

STR

DEX

CON

INT

WIS

CHA

Attacks Gore +7, 2d6+5 piercing. Charge: 20+ ft adds 2d6 and a DC 15 Strength save or knocked Prone and pushed 10 ft.

Traits Trampling Charge: if it knocks a target Prone with its charge, it may make a hooves attack against them as a Bonus Action.

Gear & Notes A wall of muscle and horn. Will flatten a shield wall and not notice.

Stag / Hart

Large beast · Morale 6

HP 7AC 13DR 0Speed 50 ft

STR

DEX

CON

INT

WIS

CHA

Attacks Antlers +4, 1d8+3 piercing (only if cornered or in rut).

Traits Wary: always acts first; flees rather than fight unless trapped.

Wildcat / Lynx

Small beast · Morale 5

HP 4AC 14DR 0Speed 40 ft (climb 30)

STR

DEX

CON

INT

WIS

CHA

Attacks Multiattack: Claws +4, 1d4+3, and Bite +4, 1d4+3.

Traits Pounce and Keen Sight. Strikes from above, vanishes into the canopy.

Adder (Venomous Snake)

Small beast · Morale 4

HP 3AC 13DR 0Speed 20 ft (swim 20)

STR

DEX

CON

INT

WIS

CHA

Attacks Bite +5, 1 piercing, and the target makes a DC 11 Constitution save or takes 2d4 poison (ignores DR).

Traits Camouflaged: Advantage on Stealth in undergrowth; foes have Disadvantage to notice it before it strikes.

Gear & Notes Underfoot in the reeds and the ruins. The bite is nothing; the venom is the whole danger.

Hunting Falcon

Tiny beast · Morale 6

HP 3AC 14DR 0Speed 10 ft (fly 60)

STR

DEX

CON

INT

WIS

CHA

Attacks Talons +5, 1d4+3 slashing — usually a strike at the eyes.

Traits Keen Sight. A trained raptor; loosed to blind and harry, not to kill outright.

Plague Rats (Swarm)

Medium swarm of tiny beasts · Morale 8

HP 12AC 12DR 0Speed 30 ft (climb 30)

Large plant · Morale 8

HP 20AC 12DR 2Speed 20 ft

STR

DEX

CON

INT

WIS

CHA

Attacks Multiattack: two Thorned Limbs +6, 2d6+4 bludgeoning (Reach 10 ft); on a hit, DC 13 Strength save or Restrained by creepers.

Traits Resistant to piercing; vulnerable to fire. Rooted Vigour: regains 5 HP per turn while standing on living earth.

Gear & Notes Where the old wood was felled for a lord's hall, something woke beneath the stumps. It does not forgive the axe.

The first time you fight a knight in full harness, you will empty your whole arsenal into him and watch it skate off the steel. Then someone will trip him into the mud, and a boy with a rondel will end three counties of breeding in four seconds. Remember that. There is always a gap.