The Witcher Manuale

150

Fighting Monsters your opponent up against a wall or corner Fighting Monsters
Without Silver them so they can’t escape? Do it. Fast Strikes
not landing enough damage to get through Keep in mind when you’re going up against
Most people who encounter armor? Try a Strong Strike, or pin them so a monsters that ghting a monster is very dif-
monsters are forced to fight buddy can stab in between the plates of their ferent from ghting a man. Monster have
them without a silver weap- armor. Keep your opponents on their toes. special abilities and defenses that can make
on to help them. They are
also usually forced to fight Critical Wounds ghting them hellish. To start with, mon-
said monsters with no mag- sters are resistant to conventional weapons,
ical or alchemical aid. Com- ere are wounds and then there are criti- taking much less damage from a non-silver
mon folk fighting mon- cal wounds. Both will kill you but a critical weapon than a regular person would. If you
sters tend to poison them wound is a hundred times worse. Regular run into a battle, say with a gri n, and are
with bait or to get a whole wounds represent cuts, bruises, scratches unaware of its damage resistance and stun-
bunch of people together and such—smaller problems that can all ning shriek, you will probably have some
with spears and sharpened add up to your death. Obviously the more very fatal issues. Of course on the other
branches and pin the mon- damage you take from the wound the more hand, if you enter a battle with a end aware
ster down so the bravest impressive it is. loud noises can stun them, you might come
and strongest young lad can away with victory despite the amazingly un-
behead it with an axe. This Critical wounds, on the other hand, fair odds. e key to ghting monsters is
works on smaller monsters represent structural damage to your body— knowledge. If utilized properly, solid knowl-
but proves difficult on things wounds that not only drag you closer to edge can turn a monster from unbeatable, to
like griffins and grave hags. death’s door but also break down your body’s survivable.
ability to ght and function. ese can be
literal structural damage, such as broken Fighting with Magic
or cracked bones, but they can also be less
obvious things like brain damage and inter- Mages are the artillery of the world of e
nal organs rupturing. All of these wounds Witcher. ey wield power greater than any
are grievous and many of them cause major other person on the planet, but they have
haemorrhaging or some other form of on- limits and o en require people around them
going damage as well as negatives to stats or to help them operate best, or to defend them
abilities. from attack. e worst situation for a mage
is to be in melee range of an opponent or,
While you can keep ghting for God forbid, multiple opponents. Keep this
quite a while with a few minor wounds, a in mind whether you are a mage who will be
critical wound puts a nite timer on your in combat o en or you’re facing o against
life. Until healed you are hampered in com- mages.
bat and getting closer and closer to death.
Many mages don’t wear heavy ar-
ese types of wounds are too complicated mor because it interferes with spell cast-
to just put a bandage on or suture yourself ing, and thus many weapons can pierce a
up. You can stop the bleeding or close the mage at close range. is combined with a
wound, but you’re going to need full-on in- lack of weapon training leads most mages
vasive surgery and for that you’re going to to stay at range by use of teleportation, or
need a doctor. If you can stagger to a doctor, have allies act as a barrier between them
you’ll make it but it’ll be a while before you and the enemy. However, if a mage stays at
heal. Luckily these critical wounds are based range and manages Stamina well they can
on how skilled you are compared to your bring tremendous e ects to the battle eld.
opponent, and on how lucky you both are. Just remember, staves and amulets are your
friends, and spells can be ckle.

151

Combat Actions
e Basics
Attack
Rounds Actions
You can make an attack (see Indepth Combat).
Before you begin playing the In one round, you have enough
Witcher TRPG you’ll have to time to move a distance equal to Initiate Verbal Combat
know the ins and outs of rounds. your SPD in meters and perform
A round is a time block of about 3 one action. Speaking is never con- You can begin Verbal Combat with an opponent (see
seconds. Rounds signify the order sidered an action except during Verbal Combat).
in which things happen in game. Verbal Combat.
Rounds primarily are used during Cast Magic
combat but GMs also use them to Line of Sight, Vision
keep track of screen time, AKA Cone, & Facing Depending on the casting time, you can cast or begin
how long people get to be the casting any form of magic (see Magic Resolution).
center of attention in the game. In To perform most attacks against a
and out of combat, during a round target, you must have line of sight Use a Skill to do Something
every person in the scene has a to the target and be within range.
chance to act. ese actions are all Line of sight means having noth- You can use a skill (see Skill Resolution).
taken simultaneously within the ing between you and your target
space of 3 seconds. that obscures your view of the Pick Up/Draw an Item or Weapon
target. If there is nothing between
Initiative you and your target, you have You can pick up or draw a weapon or item.
clear line of sight. If there is some-
Initiative measures how quickly thing solid between you and your Full Round Actions
the participants, usually in a com- target, you don’t. See Using Cover
bat, react to the situation around for cases when solid objects partly Run
them. Before going into rounds, obscure your target.
you put the players and NPCs You can move up to your (SPD x 3) by taking your
(Non-Player Characters) in order Your vision cone deter- whole turn to run.
from the highest initiative to the mines what you can see around
lowest. is is the order in which you. Anything outside of your Actively Dodge
the GM asks for your action that vision cone is invisible to you.
round. When the person with the When targeting something out- By taking your turn to actively dodge, you impose a -2
lowest initiative has gone, go back side of your vision cone you take penalty on anyone trying to strike you in melee range
to the person with the highest in- a -3 to the attack and cannot aim.
itiative. An enemy outside of your vision for that round.
cone gains a +3 to their attack
To get your initiative, roll against you. Aim
1d10 and add it to your REF stat.
If players roll a tie, remember the Normally your vision By taking a full turn to aim, you can raise your ranged
number they rolled. Have them cone includes everything in front attack by +1. You can aim for up to 3 turns in a row,
roll again. e players go at their of you from one shoulder to the
original initiative, but in order by other. When wearing a helmet giving you a +3 to your attack.
their second roll. ough there are with restricted vision your view is
some ways to temporarily change limited to a cone directly in front Take a Recovery Action
your initiative (see Fast Draws), of you, and a witcher’s Awareness
you usually keep the same initia- bonus and Scent Tracking are dis- By taking your turn to catch your breath, you can gain
tive for the entire combat or scene. abled. back an amount of STA equal to your REC stat.

Extra Action & Defense

You can spend 3 points of STA to take one extra action
(at a -3) at any point during your turn. Similarly, if you
are forced to take more than one defensive action dur-
ing a round (repositioning, blocking, etc.), each action
costs 1 STA. However, if you chose to use your action
to actively dodge, you do not suffer STA drain for de-
fending.

Using Miniatures

If you are using miniatures and a grid map to map your
combat, keep in mind that each square is equal to 2m.
If your SPD stat is an odd number, round it up to the
nearest even number for the purposes of movement.

152

Attack Modi ers Common Cover Vision Cones
Normal Restricted
Modi ers
(Add to Attack Roll) Mod Cover SP Human Damage Location

Target pinned +4 Stone wall 30 Location Roll Penalty DMG
Target actively dodging -2 Large tree 30
Moving target REF >10 -3 Brick wall 25 Head 1 -6 x3
-3 Wooden wall 10 Torso 2-4 -1 x1
Fast draw +5 Heavy wooden door 15 R. Arm 5 -3 x1/2
Ambush -5 Steel door 20 L. Arm 6 -3 x1/2
Ricochet shot -3 10 R. Leg 7-8 -2 x1/2
Blinded by light or dust +2 Cart 5 L. Leg 9-10 -2 x1/2
Target silhouetted +1 Tent 7
Aiming (per round) atch roof 10
Wooden barrel 7
Brambles

Ranges & Target DC

Ranges Target Mod Monster Damage Location
DC +5
Point Blank 10 Location Roll Penalty DMG
The weapon +0
is within half a 15 -2 Head 1 -6 x3
meter or phys- 20 -4 Torso 2-5 -1 x1
ically touching 25 -6 R. Limb 6-7 -3 x1/2
30 L. Limb 8-9 -3 x1/2
the target. Tail or Wing 10 -2 x1/2
Close
Light Levels
¼ the listed
Opponent Size Modifiers range of the Light Level E ect
-3 to Awareness and -3 to
Size Mod weapon Bright Light Attack and Defense if facing
Medium (Desert sun or
½ the listed sun re ecting o the sun.
range of the No penalties
weapon snow) -2 to Awareness
Daylight
Long (Daylight) -4 to Awareness and -2 to
e listed Dim Light Attack and Defense
range of the (Moonlight)
weapon Darkness
Extreme (New moon
2x the listed night or a deep
range of the cavern)
weapon

Small +2 Critical Levels
(Cat or nekker) +0
-2 Beat Defense Critical Bonus
Medium -4 By... Level DMG
(Man-sized) 7 Simple
10 Complex 3
Large 13 Di cult 5
(Troll or horse) 15 Deadly 8
10
Huge
(Fiend)

Finally, your facing is just what di- of Stamina with recovery actions and make 153
rection you’re facing and thus what direc- a Stun save.
tion your vision cone is facing. Changing Holding Action
facing as part of your movement does not Damage of both types is usually de-
count as an action. termined by rolling di erent combinations You can choose to act later in
of 6- or 10-sided dice. Di erent weapons the round by holding your
Ambushes also do one of four di erent damage types: action. If you choose to hold
piercing, slashing, bludgeoning, and ele- your action, the initiative or-
You gain bonuses against enemies by sneak- mental. der continues as normal but
ing up on them. You must be the one to in- you can jump in and act be-
stigate a combat to ambush a target. First, Fast Strikes Versus Strong fore or after someone further
make a successful Stealth check against the Strikes down the initiative list. If you
target’s Awareness check. If you succeed, hold your action until the
you go unnoticed and can sneak up on your When making an attack you can make ei- very end of the round, you
opponent. Next, make your attack. Your tar- ther a fast strike or a strong strike. A fast must either use your turn or
get still gets to defend themselves but you strike allows you to attack twice in one sacrifice it. You cannot hold
gain a +5 against all targets who were un- round without penalty. ese attacks don’t your action and choose to
aware of you. is bonus lasts for the rst have to be made against the same target as act at the beginning of the
round of the combat. If one of your targets long as both targets are within range. Fast next round.
notices you but doesn’t have time to alert strikes can be very useful when you are sur-
the rest, you still get the bonus against those rounded by a large group of enemies. Rate of Fire
who aren’t aware. A er you make your am- (ROF)
bush attack, everyone in the area makes an When making a strong strike, you
initiative roll and initiative continues from make one huge attack at a -3 to your roll Monsters and common hu-
there. Your rst attack (the ambush) isn’t which does double damage against the op- manoid enemies attack dif-
counted in the initiative. ponent. Strong strikes are best when you ferently to players and major
need to do a lot of damage to a slower target enemies. These opponents
Ganging Up with a lot of armor. have a Rate of Fire (ROF) for
• Bows: When using a strong strike with a each weapon they use. This
When a person is attacked by multiple as- shows you how many times
sailants in melee range (adjacent or within bow you pull the bow to full draw and re, that weapon can be used in
2m with a reach weapon) they take a -1 pen- doubling the damage. Since it takes quite a one round. These opponents
alty to defense for every assailant beyond bit of time to draw and nock arrows, bows can also not use Strong or
the rst. For example, if you were surround- can only re once, even if making a fast Fast Strikes.
ed by four Nekkers you would take a -3 to strike.
your defense. • Crossbows: You cannot make strong or fast
strikes with a crossbow since they have one
draw length and draw weight.

Damage Hit Location

Damage is split into two categories: lethal A er you attack, determine what body part
and non-lethal. Any wound that brings you hit. Unless you aimed for a speci c spot,
you closer to death deals lethal damage. roll on the Humanoid or Monster Damage
When your amount of lethal damage is Location tables.
equal to your Health Points, you enter
Death State and begin dying (see Death Aiming for speci c parts is harder,
Saves). Temporary damage that impairs but can be worth it. Each part has a penalty
you (concussion, shock) is non-lethal dam- to hit it and a damage modi er. A er you’ve
age. When you have taken non-lethal dam- reduced your damage based on armor (see
age equal to your current Stamina, you Damage Reduction), you multiply the re-
are knocked unconscious and treated as maining damage based on the modi er for
stunned until you recover at least 20 points the location.

154 Humanoid Damage When an attack strikes you, subtract the SP
Location of your armor from the incoming damage.
Party Initiative It’s important to remember that armor is
Location Roll Penalty DMG based on location: A steel plate under your
To speed things up, you can silk shirt doesn’t protect your head.
choosetodesignateoneplay- Head 1 -6 x3
er as the Leader of the party. Torso 2-4 -1 x1 Damage Resistance
The Leader rolls initiative for R. Arm 5 -3 x1/2
the entire party and their roll L. Arm 6 -3 x1/2 Damage resistance (DR) is structural or
is added to each other play- R. Leg 7-8 -2 x1/2 magical protection from speci c damage
er’s REF score to determine L. Leg 9-10 -2 x1/2 types: reproof clothes, for instance, or
their initative. This method scaly skin that turns blades. Like armor, DR
is good for getting initiative Monsters which have di erent anatomy saps the sting from attacks. If you take dam-
for large groups of enemies from humans have a di erent table for dam- age of a type (piercing, slashing, bludgeon-
as well. age location. When ghting a non-human- ing, elemental) you’re resistant to, halve the
oid monster, roll on the Monster Damage damage a er applying your armor’s SP.
Fast Draw Location table.
Layering Armor
By declaring a Fast Draw at Monster Damage Location
the start of the round, you Layering armor may seem like a good idea.
raise your initiative by +3 Location Roll Penalty DMG Stack up a gambeson, a brigandine, and
for that round by taking a some plate armor and you can laugh o a
-3 to your attack. However, Head 1 -6 x3 damn ballista bolt! Unfortunately it doesn’t
you must make an attack Torso 2-5 -1 x1 work like that for two reasons.
and you cannot benefit from R. Limb 6-7 -3 x1/2
aiming or any other aim-re- L. Limb 8-9 -3 x1/2 First, armor is cumulative: under-
lated ability. If your weapon Tail or Wing 10 -2 x1/2 neath your brigandine is a gambeson and a
is not drawn, you may draw chain mail shirt and underneath your plate
it as part of this action. Certain types of attacks (bombs, traps, and armor is another gambeson and another
some spells, for example) strike multiple chain mail shirt. So your stacked gambe-
Layering Table body locations at once. Bombs and explo- son, brigandine and plate armor is really
sive traps hit everywhere, dealing their three gambesons, a brigandine, two shirts
To determine the total damage to every location separately. In this of chain mail, and plate armor over top of it
EV of your layered armor, case, calculate full dice damage for each lo- all. row in four layers of armored trousers
combine the EV of the in- cation separately. and a great helm with two padded caps, two
dividual layers and then chain mail coifs, and leather hood? Not only
add +1 for each layer of Armor do you look like the Michelin Man’s merce-
medium armor and +2 for nary brother, you’re also wearing about 39
each layer of heavy armor. Armor is anything that makes it harder for kilograms of armor alone, each layer adding
The SP bonus to each layer an attack to kill you. For players, this most- more encumbrance. For this reason you can
is calculated in before the ly means reinforced clothing and plates of only stack three pieces of armor and you
armor is layered together. steel. For monsters, this can be hardened can only wear one layer of heavy armor and
Resistances and special ef- skin or natural shells. All armor has a stop- one layer of medium armor.
fects carry over but do not ping power (SP). e stopping power of ar-
stack. mor determines how much incoming dam- Second, each layer of armor doesn’t
age it absorbs when an attack strikes you. add its full SP. Any armor lighter than your
heaviest armor acts as a bu er between you
and the blow. To determine how much ex-
tra armor you get subtract the lighter armor
from the heavier armor and nd the di er-
ence on the table on the next page.

is bonus is the maximum amount of the Using Cover 155
weaker armor’s SP that is you added to your
stronger armor. If you have 3 layers, calcu- When you are under re from archers, ar- Layering Example
late the layers in pairs: Compare your rst balists, mages, and the like, you can choose
and second layers to nd their combined to take cover. Anything solid that comes be- Say for instance you want to
strength, then compare that augmented tween you and a projectile counts as cover. wear a gambeson, a brigan-
strength to the third set of armor to get the An attack must penetrate the cover before dine, and a full plate armor
full strength of the armor. it can get to you. If an attack does enough on your torso. Well, first look
damage to exceed the cover’s SP, the rest at all of the individual stop-
Di erence in SP Bonus Armor of the damage strikes you and must get ping powers: gambeson (3),
through your armor before doing damage brigandine (12), and plate
to you. armor (20). Now subtract
the gambeson from the brig-
0-4 +5 Common Cover Table andine and we get 9. If we
5-8 +4 compare that to the table it
9-14 +3 Cover SP shows us that with the gam-
15-20 +2 beson and brigandine our
Stone wall 30 SP becomes 15 (12+3). We
Bonus Armor Table Large tree 30 then subtract that 15 from
Armor Piercing Brick wall 25 the SP 20 plate armor and
Wooden wall 10 get 5. Consulting our table
ere are two armor piercing levels in the Heavy wooden door 15 again the total SP we have is
Witcher TRPG: armor piercing and im- Steel door 20 24. We also have a total EV
proved armor piercing. Armor piercing 10 of 3.
weapons negate the damage resistance of Cart 5
any armor that they hit. Improved armor Tent 7 Human Shields
piercing weapons not only ignore damage atch roof 10 As Cover
resistance but also halve the SP value of the Wooden barrel 7
armor they hit. Brambles If you are using a human
shield and someone tries
Staged Penetration Human Shields to attack you through
the “shield” they must
Attacks that hurt you also damage your ar- We all knew it would come to this. Yes, do enough damage to
mor, making it less resilient to further at- people, animals, and monsters can count get past the “shield’s”
tacks. Each attack that penetrates a piece of as cover when in a pinch or feeling vindic- BODY stat, plus any
armor and does damage to the wearer re- tive! To use a person or creature as a hu- torso armor they have.
duces the SP of the armor by 1 point. When man shield you have to put them between
the SP reaches 0, the armor is fully broken you and the attack by rolling a Brawling or e “shield” takes dam-
and no longer soaks any damage. In the case Physique check against their Physique or age as if they had been
of shields and weapons, blocking an attack Dodge/Escape. If you succeed, they are hit hit and any damage that
negates the attack but reduces the item’s re- by the attack instead of you. If you are al- penetrates the “shield’s”
liability or SP by 1. When the shield’s SP or ready grappling or pinning the person, you SP (BODY+Armor) hits
weapon’s reliability reaches 0 it’s useless for are not required to make this roll and the you in the torso.
blocking or attacking. Weapons and armor creature you are holding is considered cov-
can be xed with appropriate cra ing rolls er for your torso. Any attack that hits your
(see the Cra ing section). torso hits the “shield” instead of you. For
information on attacking through a human
shield, see the sidebar.

156 Reliability Criticals and Fumbles

Lost Teeth & e reliability of a weapon determines how Fortune plays a big role on the battle eld.
Dented Helmets easy it is to break. Not only will this apply You may get lucky and strike a vital loca-
if you attempt to block with the weapon tion, but you could just as easily trip on a
Didya know my back five (see Staged Penetration) but it also applies rock. Criticals and fumbles have more im-
teeth on my left side are to fumbles. If you fumble an attack, block, portance during combat than in everyday
wooden? Yeah. Second War or parry with your weapon it can take extra encounters.
took a bit more outta me reliability damage.
than I figured goin’ in. Also When you roll a natural 10 on
taught me not to rely on hel- Wounds 10-sided die you’ve rolled a critical. Roll
mets too much. For a while again and add both rolls. If you roll another
I wore a helmet like a lotta Assuming your armor didn’t stop an attack, 10, roll a third time and add that value too.
the other lads. One battle, you take damage. Enough lethal damage
the black ones broke our pike will begin to hamper your actions. is is is can continue many times and doesn’t
line and hit the arbalists hard. called your wound threshold, and it var- end until you fail to roll a 10. For example,
I grabbed my axe but some ies based on your maximum Health Points. rolling a 7 a er rolling a 10, gives you a total
bloody bastard got me with When your current HP goes below your of 17. However, if you roll a 10 a er rolling
a blow to the head so hard wound threshold, you halve your REF, DEX, a 10 you roll again. is new value is added
my jaw snapped shut and INT, and WILL: you’re holding yourself to- to the 20 you rolled before.
I crushed five of my teeth. gether with sheer willpower and adrenaline.
Lucky I pulled my tongue in Not only do criticals allow you to
or I’d have a hard time bein’ Wound reshold Table hit opponents with ease, they also give you
the chatty son a bitch I am a chance to in ict punishing and lethal crit-
now, heh. Max Health reshold ical wounds on your opponent.

–Rodolf Kazmer 15 3 Fumbles, on the other hand, are a
20 4 warrior’s worst enemy. When you roll a nat-
25 5 ural 1 on a 10-sided die, roll again and sub-
30 6 tract the next value from your base. Just like
35 7 criticals, if you roll a natural 10 a er rolling
40 8 a natural 1, you must roll again and subtract
45 9 that value as well. You cannot drop your
50 10 base below a value of 0. As an example, roll-
55 11 ing a 7 a er rolling 1 means that you sub-
60 12 tract 7 from your base. So if you had a 7 REF
65 13 and a +6 Swordsmanship, your roll would
70 14 bring you to 6. However, if you roll a 10 a er
rolling a 1, you roll again. Say you get a 4.

is means you subtract 14 from your base
and bottom out at 0. Just as criticals can dis-
able enemies, fumbles punish you based on
how high your negative was, as shown in the
Fumble Outcome table.

157

Fumble Table

Roll Type Result
Melee
Attack 1-5: No major fumble.
Armed 6: Your weapon glances o and
Defense you are staggered.
Ranged 7: Your weapon lodges in a near-
Attack by object and it takes 1 round
to free.
Unarmed 8: You damage your weapon se-
Attack/ verely. Your weapon takes 1d10
Defense points of reliability damage.
9: You manage to wound your-
self. Roll for location.
>9: You wound a nearby ally.
Roll location on a random ally
within range.
1-5: No major fumble.
6: Your weapon takes 1d6 extra
points of reliability damage.
7: Your weapon is knocked from
your hand and ies 1d6 meters
away in a random direction (see
Scatter table).
8: You are knocked to the
ground. You are now prone and
must make a Stun save.
9: Your weapon takes 2d6 extra
points of reliability damage.
>9: Your weapon ricochets back
and hits you. Roll for location.
1-5: No major fumble.
6-7: e ammunition you red,
or weapon you threw, hits some-
thing hard, breaking.
8-9: Your bowstring comes
partially undone, your crossbow
jams, or you drop your thrown
weapon. It takes 1 round to undo
this.
>9: You strike one of your allies
with a ricochet. Roll location on
a random ally within range.
1-5: No major fumble.
6: You are knocked o balance
and are staggered.
7: You trip on something and fall
prone.
8: You trip and fall prone. You
must make a Stun save.
9: You trip and hit your head.
You are knocked prone, take 1d6
points of non-lethal damage to
the head, and must make a Stun
save.
>9: You fail horribly and not
only fall prone but also take 1d6
lethal damage to the head and
must make a Stun save.

158 Critical Wounds Critical Wounds Table

Stabilizing VS Whenever you roll over your opponent’s Beat Defense Critical Bonus
Treating defense by 7 or more, you score a critical By... Level DMG
wound. When you score a critical wound,
Stabilizing a critical wound is roll on the appropriate Critical Wound table 7 Simple 3
akin to cauterizing a wound, to see where you hit and what wound you 10 Complex 5
tying a tourniquet, or oth- created. Each level of critical wound in icts 13 Di cult 8
erwise keeping the wound bonus damage and forces the opponent to 15 Deadly 10
from gushing blood or kill- make a Stun save. Bonus damage from a
ing you some other way. It critical wound cannot be stopped by armor.
requires a First Aid roll equal
to the Healing Hands DC of Simple Critical Table
the wound. Once stabilized
the wounded party is at a Roll E ect Stabilized Treated
negative but no longer being 2d6
killed by the wound. Only Cracked Jaw You are at a -1 to You are at a -1 to
once a doctor has healed 12 Magical Skills & Magical Skills.
the wound with multiple e blow cracked your jaw, making it hard to speak
Healing Hands rolls does the 11 clearly. You are at a -2 to Magical Skills & Verbal Verbal Combat.
wound begin to heal. More Combat (Charisma, Persuasion, Seduction, Lead-
information can be found 9-10 ership, Deceit, Social Etiquette, and Intimidation).
on pg.174. 6-8
4-5 Dis guring Scar You take a -1 to You take a -1 to
Aimed Criticals 2-3 empathic Verbal Seduction.
e blow mangled your face in some way.
If you aimed for a location You are grotesque and di cult to look at. You take Combat.
and scored a Critical Wound a -3 to empathic Verbal Combat (Charisma, Per-
you do not roll on the Criti- suasion, Seduction, Deceit, Social Etiquette, and
cal Tables. Instead, you apply
the appropriate Wound for Leadership).
the level you scored. If it was
a Torso or Head strike, roll Cracked Ribs You are at a -1 to You take a -10 to
1d6. If the value is between BODY. Encumbrance.
1 and 4 you score the lesser e blow cracked your ribs, making it painful to
effect (11 for Head or 6-8 for breathe and exert strength. You take a -2 to BODY.
Torso). If the value is 5 or 6
you score the greater effect is does not e ect Health Points.
(12 for Head or 9-10 for Tor-
so). Foreign Object Your Recovery & You take a -2 to
Critical Healing are Recovery and a -1
e blow lodged a piece of clothing or armor in to your Critical
your wound, causing an infection. Your Recovery halved.
Healing.
and Critical Healing are quartered.

Sprained Arm You are at a -1 to ac- You take a -1 to
e blow sprained your arm, making it di cult to tions with that arm. Physique.
maneuver. You take a -2 to actions that use the arm.

Sprained Leg You take a -1 to You take a -1 to
SPD, Dodge/Es- SPD.
e blow sprained your leg, making it di cult to cape, and Athletics.
walk and maneuver. You take a -2 to SPD, Dodge/

Escape, and Athletics.

159

Complex Critical Table

Roll E ect Stabilized Treated Monsters Without
2d6 Anatomy
Minor Head Wound You are at a -1 to You are at a -1 to
12 INT and WILL. WILL. Elementa and specters are
11 e blow rattled your brain and caused some inter- kept alive by magic and do
9-10 nal bleeding. It’s hard to think straight. You take a -1 not have physical forms like
6-8 other living creatures.
4-5 to INT, WILL, and STUN.
2-3 This means that
Lost Teeth You take a -2 to You take a -1 to they do not suffer certain
magical skills and magical skills and critical wounds that rely on
e blow knocked out some teeth. Roll 1d10 to see damaging organs. If you
how many teeth are lost. You take a -3 to magical Verbal Combat. Verbal Combat. score one of the following
critical wounds against an el-
skills and Verbal Combat. ementa or specter, the strike
instead does bonus damage
Ruptured Spleen You must make a You take a -2 to as stated in the Bonus Dam-
Stun save every 10 Stun. age table.
A tear in your spleen begins bleeding profuse-
ly, making you woozy. Make a Stun save every 5 Rounds. Foreign Object
Ruptured Spleen
rounds. is wound induces bleeding. Torn Stomach
Sucking Chest Wound
Broken Ribs You are at a -1 to You are at a -1 to Septic Shock
BODY and REF. BODY.
e blow breaks your ribs, causing immense pain Specters are also immune to
when you bend and strain. Take a -2 to BODY and any strike to the legs (since
they have no legs), so you
a -1 to REF and DEX. must roll again on location.

Fractured Arm You take a -2 to ac- You take a -1 to ac-
e blow fractures your arm. You take a -3 to ac- tions with that arm. tions with that arm.
tions with that arm.

Fractured Leg You take a -2 to -1 to SPD, Dodge/
e blow fractures your leg. You take a -3 to SPD, SPD, Dodge/Es- Escape, and Ath-
Dodge/Escape, and Athletics. cape, and Athletics. letics.

Di cult Critical Table

Roll E ect Stabilized Treated Bonus Damage
2d6
Skull Fracture Take a -1 to INT You take quadruple Level Bonus
12 and DEX and quad- damage from head
11 e blow fractures a part of your skull, weakening ruple damage from Simple +5
9-10 your head and causing bleeding. You take a -1 to wounds. Complex +10
6-8 INT and DEX, and take quadruple damage from head wounds. Difficult +15
Deadly +20
head wounds.

Concussion You take a -1 to INT, You take a-1 to INT
REF, and DEX. and DEX
e blow caused a minor concussion. Make a Stun
save every 1d6 rounds and take a -2 to INT, REF,

and DEX.

Torn Stomach You take a -2 to all You take a -1 to all
actions. actions.
e blow rips your stomach, pouring its contents
into your gut. You take a -2 to all actions and take 4

points of acid damage per round.

Sucking Chest Wound You take a -2 to You take a -1 to
BODY and SPD. BODY and SPD.
e wound tears your lung, which lls your chest
with air, crushing organs. You take a -3 to BODY

and SPD. You also start su ocating.

160

Prosthetics Compound Arm Fracture at arm must
4-5 e blow crushes your arm. Bone sticks out of the at arm is useless. remain in a sling,
You can buy prosthetics to skin. e arm is rendered useless and you start but it can hold
replace arms or legs that you bleeding. things.
lose in combat. They allow
you to use that limb again 2-3 Compound Leg Fracture Halves SPD, Dodge/ -2 to SPD, Dodge/
and alleviate the penalties e blow snaps your leg, rendering it useless. Quar- Escape, and Athlet- Escape, and
somewhat. ter SPD, Dodge/Escape, and Athletics. is induces ics. Athletics.
bleeding.
Basic arm pros-
thetics allow you to use your Deadly Critical Table
arm for basic tasks that don’t
require fine manipulation Roll E ect Stabilized Treated
(opening doors or grabbing 2d6
people) but you cannot Separated Spine/Decapitated is wound cannot is wound cannot
wield a weapon with them. 12 be stabilized. be treated.
Basic leg prosthetics allow 11 e blow either snaps your neck or separates your
you to move at 3/4th your head from your shoulders. You die immediately.
normal SPD but you still 9-10
take a -5 to Dodge/Escape 6-8 Damaged Eye You take a -3 to Permanent -1 to
and Athletics. 4-5 sight-based Aware- sight-based Aware-
2-3 e blow cuts into or indents your eyeball. You take ness and -2 to DEX
Quality arm pros- a -5 to sight-based Awareness and -4 to DEX. is ness and DEX.
thetics allow you to use
your arm for basic tasks that wound begins bleeding.
don’t require fine manipula-
tion and allow you to wield Heart Damage You halve your You take +2 dam-
weapons at a -5. Quality Stamina, SPD, and age per round from
leg prosthetics allow you to e blow damages your heart. Make an immediate bleeding damage
move at your normal SPD Death save. If you survive, the wound is bleeding BODY.
and give only a -3 to Dodge/ and you must quarter your Stamina, SPD, and permanently
Escape and Athletics.
BODY.
If they are struck in
combat, the wearer takes no Septic Shock Your Stamina is You take a -5 to
damage but the prosthetic halved and you take Stamina perma-
comes off. e blow damages your intestines, letting waste en- a -1 to INT, WILL,
ter your blood stream. Quarter your Stamina, take a nently.
-3 to INT, WILL, REF, and DEX. You are poisoned. REF, and DEX.

Dismembered Arm e arm can be re-
at arm is useless. placed with a pros-
e blow rends your arm from your body or dam-
ages it beyond repair. e arm cannot be used and thetic.

you start bleeding.

Dismembered Leg You quarter your e leg can be re-
SPD, Dodge/Es- placed with a pros-
e blow tears your leg from your body or damages cape, and Athletics.
it beyond repair. Quarter your SPD, Dodge/Escape, thetic.

and Athletics. is wound begins bleeding.

E ects 161

Bombs, traps, spells, and even conventional weapons can all in ict extra unpleasant e ects. Prosthetics Note
Each e ect goes on until you take the steps speci ed to end it and you cannot su er from
multiple instances of the same e ect at the same time. In our world, simple pros-
thetic limbs have been
E ect Table around since the time of
the Egyptians. If you’re in-
Name E ect terested in the story of the
ultimate prosthetic bad-ass,
Fire You are now engulfed in ames. Every turn you take 5 points of damage to every check out Gotz Von Ber-
body location. Armor soaks the damage, but re does 1 point of damage to armor lichingen whose prosthetic
Stun and weapons every turn. To put out the re you must take a turn to either pour hand made him a legend.
Poison
Bleed water on yourself or stop, drop, and roll. Stun: The Last
You are stunned, your head reeling and vision swimming. You can’t take any ac- Thing You Want
Freeze tions while stunned and anyone attacking you only has to beat DC:10 to hit you.
Staggered To end this e ect you must make a Stun save. is roll takes your whole turn. If Being poisoned, being on
Intoxication fire, being frozen. All of these
Hallucination you are struck while stunned you snap out of it immediately. are things you deal with
Poison or venom courses through your body, doing 3 points of damage every turn during a fight. They hinder
Nausea which armor does not negate. To shake o the poison you must make a DC:15 you but not so much that
Su ocation you can’t continue fighting.
Endurance check which takes 1 action. Being stunned on the other
Blinded Your wound opens a vein, causing horrible bleeding. You take 2 points of damage hand is incredibly danger-
each turn until the bleeding is stopped. You can end the bleeding by either casting ous. While stunned you are
a Healing spell on it or making a successful First Aid check at a DC:15 which a sitting duck. Any opponent
who wants to attack you is
takes 1 action likely going to and will often
You’re not literally frozen in a block of ice, but your whole body is sti and an icy score critical wounds since
glaze has formed on your clothes. Until you break the ice you have a -3 to your you aren’t in any shape to
SPD and a -1 to Re ex. You can break free with a DC:16 Physique check which dodge. Luckily, being struck
once (even if it doesn’t pen-
takes 1 action. etrate your armor) will snap
You are thrown o balance and take a -2 to your attack and defense. At the begin- you out of your stunned
state.
ing of your next turn you recover your balance and this penalty ends.
You’re stumbling drunk. Your REF, DEX, and INT are at a -2 and you are at a -3
for Verbal Combat. ere’s a 25% chance your won’t clearly remember everything

you did while you were intoxicated.
You are seeing visions and images that aren’t really there. e GM has free rein
to make any false sensory experience they want appear to you. It takes a DC:15

Deduction check to recognize each false image.
Your stomach is churning and you have to concentrate not to vomit. Every 3 rounds

you must roll under your BODY or spend the round vomiting or dry-heaving.
Your access to air has been cut o and you are choking to death. Every round you
take 3 damage which armor does not negate. Depending on your situation there
are di erent ways to end this su ocation. Restoring your air supply (surfacing

from water, escaping a chokehold, etc.) ends this e ect.
Your eyes have been blocked or damaged. Until you take a turn to clear your eyes

you are at a -3 to all Attack and Defense and a -5 to sight-based Awareness.

Susceptibility Resistances

Some monsters are especially susceptible to Some monsters are resistant or even im-
certain e ects ( re, poison, etc.). Attacks the mune to speci c e ects. is could be be-
target is susceptable to do double damage. cause a magical force protects them, or due
Non-damage spells of that e ect type im- to attunement with that particular force. If a
pose a -2 to resistance rolls and double their subject is immune to a force then that force
duration. e exception to this case is silver. does not a ect it in any way. If a subject is
All monsters are considered susceptible to resistant to a force, it takes half damage from
silver (see Monster Resistances and Silver). that force and get a +2 on all rolls to resist it.

162 Monster Resistances and Silver Death Saves

Fire Damage All monsters, except beasts, are resistant to When you have been knocked below 0
non-silver weapons and thus take half dam- Health Points you are put into Death State.
Monsters are resistant to all age from any weapon not made of silver. All In Death State, all your stats (both primary
non-silver weapons. Howev- such monsters are susceptible to silver in- & derived) fall to 1/3 normal and you must
er, this does not apply to fire. stead, though this susceptibility manifests make a Death save at the same value as your
di erently. Due to an unknown force, silver unmodi ed Stun save. If you fail this save,
Healing Yourself repels monsters and burns them. A silver you die and no amount of magic can bring
weapon striking a monster does the extra your back. If you succeed, you survive for
You can attempt to stabilize damage noted in the weapon’s stats. A sil- that round.
your own wounds, but it is ver object that is not a weapon does an ex-
much harder due to Wound tra 1d6 damage. If a piece of silver becomes Each round you must make another
Threshold penalties. lodged in a monster, they take damage as if Death save at a cumulative -1. On a success-
poisoned until they take an action to pull ful roll you survive. On a failure you die. A
it out. tough player can survive for quite a while,
but eventually you’re gonna cash out. Every
time you are injured in Death State you must
make another Death save at a cumulative -1.

Stabilization

To stop someone from dying, you must sta-
bilize them. To stabilize a character, make a
First Aid roll at a DC equal to how far the
character is below 0 Health Points. If you fail
the patient continues to die, but if you suc-
ceed they are brought back to 1 Health Point
and leave Death State.

Stabilizing a Critical Wound

If you can’t get to a doctor immediately and
your injury is killing you, you can attempt
to stabilize the wound. Stabilizing a critical
wound lessens its e ects so you can keep

ghting or get to a doctor in time. Stabilizing
a wound requires one First Aid check with a
DC based on the severity of the wound (see
the Stabilization table). Stabilizing a wound
doesn’t heal it. e healing clock only starts
once someone applies Healing Hands or
healing spells on it.

Stabilization

Critical DC

Simple 12
Complex 14
Di cult 16
Deadly 18

In Depth Combat 163

Melee Weapons Escape roll against your Brawling to slip loose. Dual Wielding
• Pin: While grappling, you can pin your oppo-
Melee weapons, the most prevalent in the Dual wielding allows you
world of the Witcher, rely on REF to hit. e nent. If you succeed, the opponent is immobi- to make a joint attack with
formula for melee attacks is: lized and cannot move or act until they escape two weapons you hold at
with a Dodge/Escape roll against your Brawling. the same time. This Joint
REF stat+Weapon skill • Choke: A er grappling a target, you can roll to Attack replaces a Fast or
+Modi er+1d10 attempt to choke them. e opponent is su o- Strong Strike. When making
cating until they are able to escape. a joint attack, roll two attacks
Brawling & Wrestling • row: While grappling, you can roll to throw with a -3 to both of them.
your opponent. e opponent is thrown to the Your opponent must have
You may wind up in the midst of combat un- ground (prone), takes damage equal to your two weapons (or a weapon
armed. In this case you’ll be brawling. Un- Punch damage, and must make a Stun save at -1. and a shield) if they want to
less marked di erently, these attacks each • Trip: You can attempt to kick the target’s legs out block or parry both attacks.
take an action and replace fast or strong from under them and knock them prone. If you If they can’t they must dodge
strikes. Brawling does non-lethal damage. succeed, the opponent falls prone. or reposition to escape the
second attack. You can make
• Punch: You can punch or strike with your st, Special Attacks a joint attack with any two
palm or elbow, dealing an amount of non-le- weapons you can hold in
thal damage equal to your Punch damage. You Anyone can swing a sword. Real soldiers one hand, including two
can choose to make strong or fast strikes with like to throw in special strikes for best ef- hand crossbows.
punches. fect. Unless marked otherwise, each special
attack requires 1 action, replacing a normal Prone
• Kick: You can kick or strike with your foot or attack action.
knee, dealing an amount of non-lethal damage When knocked prone you
equal to your Kick damage. You can choose to • Charge: By taking a full round, you can execute take a -2 to your attack and
make strong or fast strikes with kicks. a charge against a target. A charge allows you defense rolls until you take
to move up to your Run speed and then make a move action to stand up.
• Push Kick: Instead of doing damage, you can try a strong strike. is strike still su ers a -3 to hit, After standing, you can take
to push a target back with a powerful forward but if the attack is blocked you can make a Phy- your remaining action to
kick. If you succeed, you push the opponent back sique check against the opponent’s Physique roll move as far as you normally
a number of meters equal to your Body/3. You to knock the target prone. would have.
only do half damage, and this attack always hits
the torso. • Pommel Strike: By making a weapon attack, you
can non-lethally strike against a target by bash-
• Charge: Much like armed charges, you can move ing with the pommel of your weapon. Halve the
up to your Run speed and then make a strong weapon’s damage roll and apply it as non-lethal.
punch or kick. is strike still su ers a -3 to hit
but if the attack is blocked you can make a Phy- • Disarm: By making a weapon attack, you can
sique check against the opponent’s Physique roll attempt to knock an opponent’s weapon out of
to knock the target prone. their hand with a well-aimed strike. If you suc-
ceed, you knock the opponent’s weapon from
• Disarm: You can roll Brawling against your op- their hand and send it ying, 1d6 meters away in
ponent’s Dodge/Escape to attempt to disarm an a random direction (see the Scatter table).
opponent. Unlike disarming with a weapon, you
can try to either knock the opponent’s weapon • Trip: By making a weapon attack, you can at-
away (1d6/2 meters in a random direction) or to tempt to strike the target’s legs and knock them
grab the weapon with a free hand. Trying to take prone. If you succeed, the opponent is falls at.
the weapon imposes a -3 penalty.
• Feint: By rolling Deceit instead of your rst fast
• Grapple: You can roll to grab hold of a target. strike, you can attempt a feint. If your opponent
While grappled, a target cannot move away from fails an Awareness check against your Deceit roll,
you and takes to -2 to all physical actions. is you confuse them and can make your second at-
is a prerequisite to pins, chokes, and throws. tack at a +3.
Each turn, your opponent can attempt a Dodge/

164

Size Modifiers Shield Attacks Ranged Weapons

Size Mod You can use a shield in combat as a bludg- Anything shot or thrown counts as a ranged
eoning weapon. Using your shield as a weapon. To make a ranged attack (Bows,
Small +2 weapon requires a Melee attack roll and Crossbows, rown Weapons) you must
(Cat or nekker) +0 does damage equal to your Punch, but le- roll a combination of:
-2 thal. Medium shields do damage as though
Medium -4 your Punch were two levels higher, and DEX stat+Weapon skill
(Man-sized) heavy shields do damage four levels higher. +RNG Modi er+1d10
See the Hand to Hand table on pg.48.
Large greater than the defensive roll of your target.
(Troll or horse) Defenses If you’re attacking an unaware or inanimate
target, you must beat its target DC, aug-
Huge When defending against attacks there are mented by its size (See Size Modi ers).
(Fiend) many options for getting clear of or stopping
a killing blow. Unless marked otherwise, all Ranges & Target DC
of these defenses work against ranged as
Defending Against well as melee attacks. Ranges Target Mod
An Ambush DC
• Dodge: By moving slightly out of the way, you
If you are attacked while un- can dodge an incoming attack. Dodging requires Point Blank 10 +5
aware you still have a chance a Dodge/Escape roll against your opponent’s at- The weapon is within
to defend yourself. tack roll. half a meter or physically

• Reposition: By ducking or rolling out the touching the target.
way, you can not only dodge an attack but also
maneuver to escape being surrounded. If you Close 15 +0
succeed in an Athletics roll versus your oppo- ¼ the listed range of the
nent’s attack roll, you avoid the attack and can
move a distance equal to half your SPD in any weapon
direction that is not blocked.
Medium 20 -2
• Block: You can choose to attempt to block an in- ½ the listed range of the
coming attack with your weapon, shield, or even
yourself. Only a shield can block ranged attacks. weapon
Roll your weapon skill to negate an attack with
your weapon. Roll Melee to negate an attack Long 25 -4
with a shield. Whichever you parry with takes 1 The listed range of the
point of damage. If you are in a seriously tight x
or protecting someone else, you can attempt to weapon
block an attack with your arm or hand by using
Brawling. If you succeed, you immediately take Extreme 30 -6
the attack’s damage to that location. Armor is ap- 2x the listed range of the
plied, so you may not take damage if your armor
is high enough. weapon

• Parry: You can parry an attack at a -3 to your Crossbows & Loading
weapon/Melee/Brawling roll. If you succeed, you
knock the opponent’s weapon aside and not only Crossbows are wonders of mechanical
negate the attack but do so without damaging workmanship that allow weak people to re
your weapon. Your opponent is also staggered. bolts with the same strength as trained bow-
You cannot parry bow or crossbow attacks, but men. However they require more time to
can parry thrown weapons at a -5. load than a bow due to their loading mecha-
nisms. is extra time means that loading a
crossbow takes 1 action.

Bombs & Traps Snow & Ice 165

Bombs and traps work slightly di erent- Snow and ice are a bene t and a hindrance. Repositioning in
ly from other ranged attacks. Bombs can When tracking in snow you gain a +3 to Water
be thrown at a single opponent, but their Wilderness Survival to follow recent tracks,
damage a ects an area. Everyone in that but a -3 to follow old tracks. When ghting When repositioning under-
area takes the bomb’s damage to every part on snow and ice you must make a DC:14 water, you can move in three
of their body and feels the bomb’s e ects. Athletics check a er running or attacking dimensionsbut areonlyable
If you fail your Athletics check, the bomb to stay standing. If naked or lightly clothed to move half your LEAP.
lands o target (see the Scatter table). in icy conditions, you can survive without
shelter for a number of hours equal to your Environmental
Traps are placed in an area. When a Stun. A er that time has elapsed you enter Awareness
person enters that area they trigger the trap, Death State.
and they (and anyone in the trap’s radius) Most of my students assume
feel the trap’s e ect and take the trap’s dam- Extreme Heat that strength and speed are
age to every part of their body. the key elements in combat.
Traveling and ghting in extreme heat is But in my personal study of
Environmental E ects incredibly di cult even for trained warri- the subject I believe that en-
ors. When traveling through a desert envi- vironmental awareness is the
e environment can and will a ect the way ronment such as the Korath desert, charac- key. Can you cause a careless
you travel and ght, and in some cases the ters lower their STA by a third. If they are opponent to trip over door
weapons you choose to use. Light and dark- wearing medium or heavy armor, they halve sills or tree roots? Can you
ness, weather, water, and terrain all change their STA. maneuver them into a crowd
the course of battle in their own ways. of self-important little old
ladies, or perhaps an armed
Lighting Swampy or Overgrown opponent bigger than either
Environments of you? Is there anything in
Light a ects your aim and situational aware- your environment that can be
ness. When traveling and ghting in swamps used as a weapon? A drunk-
or brush, you have to keep an eye on the en belligerent can often be set
Light Level Table ground around you. You take a -2 to Dodge/ on fire with a candle or hearth
Escape and Athletics. ash. Can you climb trees and
Light Level E ect perhaps drop on your assail-
Fighting in Water ant or cause him to slip as
Glaring Light -3 to Awareness and -3 to At- you carefully cross streams or
tack and Defense if facing the Fighting underwater is possible, but de - rivers? It is true, my students,
(Desert sun or nitely much more di cult. While under- that most of you do not have
sun re ecting o sun. water you take a -3 to Awareness. When overwhelming strength or
martial training, but you
snow) ghting with melee weapons underwater, may use your sharp wits even
the ROF of all weapons falls to 1, and at- more effectively.
Daylight No penalties tacking, blocking, and parrying are at an ad-
ditional -2. While underwater, use Athletics –Brandon of Oxenfurt
(Daylight) to dodge and reposition. rown weapons
(with the exception of spears) will not func-
Dim Light -2 to Awareness tion underwater, and both crossbows and
bows have their ranges quartered and their
(Moonlight) damage halved. ey also su er the -2 pen-
alty to attack.
Darkness -4 to Awareness and -2 to At-
tack and Defense
(New moon
night or a deep

cavern)

166 Magic Resolution

Overexerted Magic Attacks Magic Fumble Outcome
Priests
Magical attacks are a mage’s main weapon Roll Type Result
Priest use magic differently and a good backup for witchers and priests. Will
than mages. They draw a 1-6: Magic sparks and crackles
little bit of magic from many e e ects of these attacks can vary but they (Magic) and you take 1 point of damage
different elements to achieve all use WILL instead of REF or DEX. e for every point you fumbled by,
the effects they want. This formula for magical attacks is:
means that a priest who but the spell still goes o .
overexerts or fumblesalways WILL Stat+Spell Casting skill 7-9: e magic that is already
uses the mixed elemental +1d10 partially through you ignites
fumble result. inside you. Not only does the
Vigor reshold & spell fail but you su er an ele-
“Magic Users” Stamina mental fumble e ect as noted

While many groups of peo- Casting spells, invocations, and signs draws below.
ple are capable of accessing magic (referred to as chaos) from the el- >9: Your magic explodes with
a small amount of magic emental realms through your body to cre- a catastrophic e ect. Not only
only some of those people ate a magical e ect. Every magically capa- do you su er an elemental
are powerful enough to be ble character has a Vigor reshold which fumble e ect, but any focusing
considered “Magic Users”. shows how much magic you can channel item you are carrying explodes
When this book refers to through your body (in one round) before as if it were a bomb (doing
“Magic Users” this encom- you start to damage yourself. You can cast as 1d10 damage) with a 2 meter
passes both Priests and Mag- many spells as your Actions allow so long as
es but not Witchers. the total STA Cost is below or equal to your radius.
Vigor reshold.
Magic Criticals Elemental Fumble E ect
Your power also depends on your STA de-
Magic that cause physical rived statistic. is is how much magic you Element E ect
damage can cause critical can use before you become exhausted and Mixed
wounds. If the magic strikes pass out. When you cast a spell or use mag- Magic sparks out of your body.
the opponent with a phys- ic, you subtract the STA Cost from your Earth You not only take 1 point of
ical force (a rock, shard of STA. If you have no Stamina le you be- Air damage for every point you
ice, blast of air, or the like) come stunned and must recover 20 points Fire fumbled by but also su er one
the attack can cause critical of Stamina (via Recovery Actions) and make Water of the e ects below, chosen
wounds like a regular weap- a Stun save to recover.
on. randomly by the GM.
Overexertion and Fumbles e earth around you rocks.
You take 1 point of damage for
While casting magic you can overexert every point you fumbled by
yourself to cast bigger spell, invocations
or signs. You can attempt to cast a form and are also stunned.
of magic that has a larger STA Cost than e air rushes around you.
your Vigor reshold by sacri cing Health You take 1 point of damage for
Points. For every 1 point of Stamina cost be- every point you fumbled by
yond your Vigor reshold, you must spend and are thrown back 2 meters.
5 HP. When overexerting yourself to cast a Your body bursts into ames.
spell you also roll on the Elemental Fumble You take 1 point of damage for
E ect table. every point you fumbled by
and are also set on re.
If you fumble while casting magic, Frost crackles and hardens
you risk damaging your body. As with any around your body. You take
fumble, you must apply the total fumble roll 1 point of damage for every
to the appropriate fumble table. In this case, point you fumbled by and are
this is the Magic Fumble Outcome table.
also frozen.

Magical Focuses Dimeritium E ects 167

Mages and Priests can use magical staves and Roll E ect Dimeritium
amulets to lower the STA Cost of a spell by a ≥18
speci c amount based on the focus. Magical ≥16 e dimeritium makes your Dimeritium is a strange min-
focuses can never bring a STA Cost below skin itch. You feel uncomfort- eral that damps the use of
1 point and must be in the mage’s hand to ≥14 magic. Nilfgaardian Mage
work. A mage or preist can only utilize one able but nothing more. Hunters use cuffs, chains, and
focus at a time, even when carrying sever- ≥12 Your skin feels itchy and you weapons made of a bluish
al. Weaving magic through focuses takes a ≥10 feel mildly queasy but you are alloy of dimeritium and iron.
great deal of attention and control. ≤10 It is the best defense against
unimpaired. mages, assuming you can put
Dimeritium, Bane of Magic Your skin feels itchy, you feel the dimeritium on them. No
queasy, and your body spasms one knows how it works and
Dimeritium is a precious metal found from time to time. Every 1d6 it occurs rarely in the North,
sparsely all over the world. Due to its com- turns, roll a DC:15 Endurance mainly in Kovir and Poviss,
position it has anti-magic properties, which (like everything else the gods
makes it impossible for average magic users check or be staggered. may have put in the ground).
to summon up magic while touching the Your skin burns and your If you figure out why it works,
substance. e very presence of dimeriti- stomach is roiling. You are be sure and let the University’s
um can lessen a magic user’s Vigor resh- chemists know. It’s driving
old by 1 for every unit of it within 5 meters. nauseated. them insane.
When forced to touch dimeritium, a magic Your skin feels like it’s on re
user reduces their Vigor reshold to 0 and and you can barely focus on –Brandon of Oxenfurt
must make an Endurance check (DC:16) anything. You must roll Stun
and apply the results from the Dimeritium
E ects table. is check must be made every saves every round.
half hour as long as contact continues. e dimeritium boils the mag-
ic in your system and you take
1d6 damage per round that you
are touching the dimeritium.

Highly Skilled Magic Users

Highly skilled magic users like Yennefer of
Vengerberg or the infamous Vilgefortz of
Rogeveen are capable of feats that most av-
erage mages couldn’t even dream of. Mag-
ic spells normally rely on incantations and
hand gestures. However, high Spell Casting
skill allows magic users to omit certain com-
ponents when casting, as shown below.

Skill Requirements

1-6 All magic requires spoken words and
hand gesture.

7-8 Spells/invocations only require hand
gestures.

Spells/invocations only require minor
9-10 gestures, which can be made with any

part of the body.

168

Magic Targeting Rituals

Spells and invocations a ect di erent num- Rituals require more focus and precision
bers of targets depending upon their range. than the average spell or incantation. Cast-
ing a ritual requires speci c components for
• Direct: Direct spells a ect one or more targets the ritual, and signi cant time. Much like
speci cally, but do not a ect you or the area cra ing, you must spend the amount of time
nearby. ese spells act much like standard listed for the ritual rst. Next, roll a Ritual
ranged attacks. If the target is willing, you only Cra ing check against the DC of the ritual.
have to roll Spellcasting and not fumble. If you succeed, the ritual is successful. If you
fail, the ritual has no e ect, and the ritual
• Area of E ect: Area of e ect spells ll a certain components are used up. If you fumble a
area and a ect anyone inside it. ese spells act ritual, you take 1 point of damage for each
much like direct spells, except that anyone in point of Stamina spent.
the area must make a defensive roll against your
Spell Casting roll. If a spell doesn’t have a defense Being Interrupted
you only have to roll and not fumble.
If you are interrupted by something before
• Self-A ecting: Self-a ecting spells only a ect you can nish the ritual, you must make a
the caster of the spell. To cast a self-a ecting spell Ritual Cra ing roll to keep focus and con-
you only have to roll a Spell Casting roll and not tinue. e DC to continue the ritual is 15 if
fumble. you were shaken, bumped, yelled at, or had
something tossed at you. If you are attacked
and physically harmed, the DC to continue
the ritual is 18. If you are physically removed
from the ritual area, you can continue if you
get back to the area in 1 round and make a
DC:16 Ritual Cra ing check.

Group Rituals

Other people can help you perform a ritual.
ese people don’t have to be magically po-

tent, but they must be able-bodied enough
to help draw chalk circles, place ritual items,
or recite text. Every person you have help-
ing you (maximum 4) lowers the DC of the
ritual by 1.

Hexes

Hexes function a bit di erently from both
spells/invocations and rituals. To weave
a hex you must draw not only a certain
amount of magic, but also personal hatred
for the targeted person or place. Failing to
cast a hex does nothing. ere’s no back-

re unless you fumble. If you do fumble,
you have a 50% chance of in icting the hex
on yourself. is replaces the standard ele-
mental e ects and damage from fumbling a
form of magic.

Transportation & Cavalry 169

Control Rolls Control Modi er Bareback Penalty

When riding animals or driving vehicles Mount/Vehicle Control Mod. When riding bareback
you have to concern yourself with keeping (without a saddle of any
control. Whenever you attempt a maneu- Horse +2 form) you are at a -2 to all
ver, you must make a Control check to keep War horse -2 Control checks.
your transportation under control: -0
Mule -2 Redanian Cavalry
REF stat+Ride skill Ox -1
+Control Mod.+1d10 Sailboat -1 The Redanian cavalry are
Sailing ship -0 our finest army units. They
is Control check must beat a DC appro- Cutter -0 are trained rigorously. But this
priate to whatever maneuver you are trying Cart -1 is not the only reason cavalry,
to accomplish. Carriage any cavalry of semi-com-
petent riders, is dangerous.
• Simple (15): Swerve a vehicle or jump a low ob- Vehicle Control Loss What is the most dangerous
stacle on a horse. weapon in an army? The
Roll Result sword? The halberd? The tre-
• Di cult (20): Control a skidding vehicle or buchet? Give me a horse any
make an abrupt stop. 1-2 Skid or Slew: No other results. day. Your horse can kill your
3-4 Major Skid: Slide 1d10x2 meters side- opponents simply by stepping
• Very Di cult (25): Jump a vehicle or leap a high ways in the direction of travel. If you on them and running into
obstacle on a horse. 5-6 hit an object, use the Charging rules to them, even in plate mail. One
see what damage is done to your vehi- can use a horse and a weap-
Control Modi ers on. Mounted on a horse you
cle and the object. are elevated and a moving
Each mode of transportation has its own Rolled the Vehicle: Your vehicle skids target. Horses can make a
control modi er. Add the value from the 1d10x3 meters sideways in the direc- hasty retreat. Well-trained
control modi er table to your Control rolls. tion of travel and rolls. In a land vehi- riders can hang from one side
cle, you, the vehicle, and the animals of their saddle using their en-
Control Loss pulling it take 5d6 damage. In a wa- tire horse as cover. The rum-
ter vehicle, you have capsized and are bling and shaking of a line of
If you fail a Control check, you risk losing trapped underwater until you make a well-trained cavalry has been
control completely and having horrible DC:12 Athletics check to swim out and known to seriously dishearten
things happen to you and your mount/ve- infantry. A well-barded horse
hicle. If you are driving a vehicle, use the up. is nearly unstoppable.
Vehicle Control Loss table. If you are on a
mount, something happens to both you and –Brandon of Oxenfurt
the mount. Roll twice on the Mounted Con-
trol Loss table, once for the riders and once
for the mount, to see what happens.

170 Mounted Control Loss

Getting Out From Roll Personal Results Mount Results
Under A Horse
1-3 Tack Dropped: e reins slip out of your hands. Refusal: Your mount simply doesn’t to do what
If your mount falls on top of 4 You are now at a -1 to Control checks until you you want it to do. You must make another Con-
you, you have two options: 5 grab them again, which requires a turn. trol check next round.
let it come to and get off you 6
naturally or try to get out 7 Bucked: Your mount bucks. Make a DC:15 Spooked: Your mount startles and rears. You
from under it. If someone Athletics check. You must succeed to stay in must make an Athletics check (DC:16) to stay
can make a Physique check 8 on its back and an Animal Handling check
with a DC of 25, they can lift the saddle. (DC:18) to calm it down before you can keep
the horse off of you. 9
riding.
10
Bucked: Your mount bucks. Make a DC:18 Stumble: Your mount stumbles and must make
Athletics check. You must succeed to stay in a DC:14 Athletics check to stay standing.
the saddle. If you fall you are considered prone.

Bucked: Your mount bucks. Make a DC:20 Stumble: Your mount stumbles and must make
Athletics check. You must succeed to stay in a DC:18 Athletics check to stay standing.
the saddle. If you fall you are considered prone.

Bucked: Your mount bucks. Make a DC:25 Trip: Your mount trips and must make a DC:15
Athletics check. You must succeed to stay in Athletics check or fall and take 1d10 points of
the saddle. If you fall you are considered prone. damage to one randomly rolled leg. Roll 1d10.
1-3: Front Le , 4-6: Front Right, 7-8: Back Le ,

9-10: Back Right.

rown: You have been thrown from your Trip: Your mount trips and must make a DC:20
mount. Roll 1d6/2 to see how many meters you Athletics check or fall and take 2d10 points of
damage to one randomly rolled leg. Roll 1d10.
y. If you land without hitting anything, roll lo- 1-3: Front Le , 4-6: Front Right, 7-8: Back Le ,
cation and take 1d6 damage to that location. If
you hit something along the way, roll location 9-10: Back Right.
and then take a number of d6 damage equal to
the number of meters you would have own.
If you hit a living thing, it takes this damage

as well.

rown: You have been thrown from your Fall: Your mount falls over. If you are on it or
mount. Roll 1d6 to see how many meters you within a meter of it, make a DC:18 Athletics
check to avoid being landed on. If you fail, your
y. If you land without hitting anything, roll lo- mount falls on you. Roll a random location to
cation and take 1d6 damage to that location. If see what part of you falls under the horse, then
you hit something along the way, roll location take 2d10 damage to that location. Your horse
and then take a number of d6 damage equal to takes this as torso damage. A er this you are
the number of meters you would have own. trapped under your mount. You can attempt a
If you hit a living thing, it takes this damage Control check the next turn to get it o of you.

as well.

rown: You have been thrown from your Faint: Your mount faints from the sheer stress
mount. Roll 1d10 to see how many meters you of the situation. If you are on it or within a me-
ter of it, make a DC:18 Athletics check to avoid
y. If you land without hitting anything, roll lo- being landed on. If you fail, your mount falls on
cation and take 1d6 damage to that location. If you. Roll a random location to see what part of
you hit something along the way, roll location you falls under the horse and take 2d10 damage
and then take a number of d6 damage equal to to that location. Your horse takes this as torso
the number of meters you would have own. damage. A er this you are trapped under your
If you hit a living thing, it takes this damage mount. Your mount must make a Stun save

as well. each round to come to.

Vehicle Combat Vehicle Damage 171

You can make all the usual attacks from the Each vehicle has Health Points much like a Falling
back of a mount or on a vehicle. You can mount or character. When the vehicle runs
also draw or stow weapons, but there are a out of HP, it collapses and cannot move. Falling damage is calculated
few things to keep in mind. Each time you similarly to ramming dam-
attack you must make a Control check. Weight Modi er age. When you fall from a
height you divide the num-
Charging & Ramming Target Size Mod. ber of meters you fall by 2
and roll that many d6s to
When making a melee attack from the back Very Light x1/2 determine damage. Falling
of a mount or on a vehicle, you are essential- (Small box, nekker, cat) x1 damage is done to the torso
ly charging. You can also ram your vehicle x2 and it can be soaked by ar-
into something, but for a vehicle pulled by Light x3 mor. If you collide with an-
animals that Control check is at a -10. (Human-sized target) ything that thing also takes
the damage you suffer.
When charging you must still roll Medium
to hit: Weapon skill if attacking from horse- (Werewolf, cart, endrega) You fall at a rate
back, and Ride or Sailing if ramming. If you of approximately 30 meters
hit, you do either normal weapon damage Heavy per round. If you are near a
or ramming damage, but you add damage (Arachas, troll, castle door) ledge or something similar
to both based on the speed of the charge. you can grab you can make
To calculate this extra damage, divide the Ramming Damage an Athletics check (at a DC
number of meters between you and your decided by the GM) to grab
target by 2, (rounded down and capped at Mount/Vehicle DMG the edge. If you succeed you
5). Add this number of d6s to your damage. take damage equivalent to
If you are galloping on your horse, assume Horse 3d6 how far you have fallen to
your number is 5. en, multiply this ex- War horse 4d6 your arm.
tra damage by the appropriate modi er on 2d6
the Weight Modi er table. In the case of a Mule 4d6
ramming vehicle, the full damage is done to Ox 2d6
your vehicle as well as the target. Sailboat 4d6
Sailing ship 5d6
Cutter 3d6
Cart 4d6
Carriage

172

Example Combat

For an example of combat, let’s pit a man at (REF+Swordsmanship+1d10-6) and rolls a
arms (Johan), a witcher (Hanson), a mage critical 15 for a total of 25. e ghoul can’t
(Storm), and a criminal (Wren) against a roll dodge since it is stunned, so Johan easily
small group of 4 ghouls. hits and scores a deadly critical on the ghoul’s
head. He rolls weapon damage (4d6+4) plus
As the sun goes down the travelers spot a the bonus damage from a deadly critical
group of ghouls stalking a battle eld. Before and gets a total of 25. is damage is halved
they can change course and sneak around thanks to the ghoul’s resistance but multiplied
them, the ghouls spot our would-be heroes by 3 because it struck the ghoul’s head. Johan
and go on the attack. does 36 points of damage to the ghoul and
rolls to see what critical wound he in icted.
To start with, everyone rolls initita- Since he aimed, he rolls 1d6 and tries to roll
tive (REF+1d10). To keep things quick, all a 5 or 6. He rolls a 4 and damages the ghoul’s
four ghouls have one intiative roll. Our inita- eye. e ghoul would be blinded in one eye
tive roster comes out as follows: but the 36 points of damage kills it.
1. Wren
2. Hanson Now the ghouls go, all together. Ghoul
3. Johan A attacks Johan and rolls a total of 20. Johan
4. Ghouls repositions (DEX+Athletics+1d10) and rolls
5. Storm a total of 21. He dodges back 2m before ghoul
C can get to him. Ghoul C attacks and rolls
Wren goes rst, drawing her long bow and r- a total of 19. Johan blocks with his sword
ing on ghoul A. She rolls an attack (DEX+Ar- (REF+Swordsmanship+1d10) and rolls a to-
chery+1d10) and gets a total of 23. e ghoul tal of 22. He negates the ghoul’s damage but
rolls a dodge (REF+Dodge/Escape+1d10) his sword takes 1 point of damage. Ghoul D
and gets a total of 22. Wren hits. Since she runs at Storm and attacks with a 14. Storm
wasn’t aiming she rolls 1d10 to determine lo- dodges with an 18 and isn’t damaged.
cation. She gets a 9 and shoots the ghoul in
the le leg. She rolls her long bow damage Finally Storm falls back and spends 3
(4d6) and gets a lucky roll of 20. Ghouls have STA to casts Carys’ Hail with a Spell Casting
no armor but they are resistant to steel, which roll of 22. Ghoul C rolls a 17 to dodge, getting
halves the initial damage. On top of that, the struck by all 5 of Storm’s ice pellets. Ghoul C
shot was to the leg so damage is halved again. takes 2 attacks to the torso, 2 attacks to the
Ghoul A takes 5 points of damage, lowering le leg, and 1 attack to the head. Factoring
its health to 20 out of 25. in modi ers for location, the ghoul takes 14
points of damage (4+4+1+2+3), bringing it
Next Hanson draws his silver sword down to 11 of its original 25 HP.
and uses the Axii sign on ghoul B. He rolls
Spell Casting (WILL+Spell Casting+1d10) With one round of combat done,
and gets a total of 25. e ghoul rolls to resist the ghouls are missing one of their num-
magic (WILL+Resist Magic+1d10) and gets ber and the players are still unharmed. e
a total of 13. e ghoul is stunned. combat continues like this until either all
the enemies (or players) are dead or one side
Johan, who already had his sword escapes combat. Since each round encom-
out just in case, runs up to the stunned ghoul passes 3 seconds, most combats are over in
and swings for its head. He rolls an attack less than a minute.

173

Healing

Healing Over Time

Characters begin healing Health Points nat-
urally over time if someone makes either a
DC:14 Healing Hands or a First Aid roll for
them. ey regain a number of HP equal to
their REC stat per day of rest. While resting,
you must not do anything too strenuous.
If you spend a lot of time running around,
doing work, or ghting, you only heal half
of your Recovery per day. If healed with a
Healing Hands check you gain an extra 3
HP per day. Critical wounds heal di erently.

Healing with Magic

If you are traveling with (or can nd) a mage
or priest, they can heal you with magic.
Magical healing is uncommon: most magic
users are incapable of performing it. If you
are a witcher, or mildly suicidal, you could
take a witcher’s potion. For witchers this is
perfectly safe. For non-witchers it can be
like drinking poison.

• Spells & Rituals: A mage can cast a magical heal-
ing spell on a target to regenerate their Health
Points over time. A Ritual of Life restores health
immediately on casting.

• Potions: Witchers and non-witchers can
drink a swallow potion to gain health back, but
non-witchers must make a DC:18 Endurance
check or be poisoned instead of being healed.

Healing Critical Wounds

Critical wounds require time and medical
attention. A doctor can heal a critical wound
by taking a number of rounds (speci ed by
the Healing Hands table) and then making
a Healing Hands roll that beats the DC spec-
i ed for the severity of the wound. A mage
must use the Healing spell a number of
times (speci ed by the Healing Spell table)
to heal a critical wound. e mage’s Healing
spell does not regenerate Health Points and
their Spell Casting roll must beat the DC
listed for the severity of critical wound to
count towards the number of uses.

174

Training with Healing Hands A er a critical wound has been treated by
Prostheses a doctor or a mage it must heal over time.
Critical Turns DC Check your BODY stat and wound level on
Some deadly critical the Critical Healing table to see how many
wounds have lasting ef- Simple 2 12 days you’ll need to get rid of the Treated
fects that can be alleviated Complex 4 14 penalty.
by a prosthesis. However, Di cult 6 16
the penalties can only be Deadly 8 18 Critical Healing
brought down so far. You
can buy down these penal- Healing Spell Body Simple Complex Difficult
ties further by applying im-
provement points to them. Critical Uses DC 3 5 9 12
10 improvement points 4 4 8 11
subtracts 1 from the penalty. Simple 4 14 5 3 7 10
You cannot buy down pen- Complex 6 16 6 2 6 9
alties past -2 and you cannot Di cult 8 18 7 1 5 8
buy down penalties to use Deadly 10 20 8 1 4 7
a limb that you don’t have a 9 1 3 6
prosthesis for. It is impossible 10 1 2 5
to train a prosthetic to feel. 11 1 1 4
12 1 1 3
13 1 1 2

Optional Rules 175

Monsters in the Novels Adrenaline Using Optional
Rules
Technically the rules in this book are based Adrenaline is the willpower to go on and
on the Witcher video games, which were ght harder in dire situations. With this op- These optional rules are here
simpli ed for ease of play. If you want to fol- so you can customize your
low the rules of the Witcher novels, things tion, you gain adrenaline dice by scoring game. If you want the game
are slightly di erent. In the novel continuity, critical hits on your opponent. For every to play more like the nov-
witchers carry two swords; only some mon- critical hit you strike on your opponent els, use the Monsters in the
sters are susceptible to silver, while others you gain one six-sided die. You can have as Novels rules to change how
are susceptible to Meteorite Steel. many dice in your adrenaline dice pool as you fight monsters. If you’re
Monsters Susceptible to Silver: you have points in your BODY stat. Spend playing a more combat-fo-
Cursed Ones an adrenaline die either to add 1d6 damage cused game you might want
Elementals to an attack or to gain 1d6 temporary HP for to use Adrenaline, which al-
Necrophages the duration of the combat. lows you to fight longer and
Relicts harder, with more excite-
Specters You can use as many adrenaline dice ment and reward when you
Vampires per attack or HP bonus as you want, but for score critical strikes. For a
Monsters Susceptible to Meteorite Steel: every one you spend you lose 10 Stamina. more social game you could
Beasts At the end of combat, any adrenaline points use the Verbal Combat sys-
Hybrids or bonus Health Points you have are lost. tem so that your players can
Draconids Just like LUCK, you must declare the use of still have exciting duels with-
Insectoids adrenaline before you take an action. out risking their lives. It’s all
Ogroids up to you and how your play
You can also spend an adrenaline group operates.
point to bring you up above 0 HP imme-
diately if an enemy attack or other e ect
knocks you below.

176 Verbal Combat defenses noted on the next page. e person
who rolls higher does the damage listed to
Empathetic VS When you’re running a more diplomatic their opponent’s Resolve. e person whose
Antagonistic game or have a lot of bards, merchants, or Resolve falls to 0 rst loses the combat and
talkative characters, you may want to use is convinced of whatever their opponent is
Verbal Attacks are split up this Verbal Combat system, which grants arguing. A Verbal Combat can take place
into empathetic and antag- persuasion and other verbal skills their own between any number of people, and you can
onistic. Empathetic attacks “combat.” When starting a Verbal Combat, aim attacks at any or all your opponents in
aim to endear your target each party establishes what their goal is in the argument, who all get a chance to de-
to you. They offer more op- the combat. Each player then determines fend. Each person who succeeds in defend-
tions, but tend to be weaker their Resolve, which acts as their Health ing does damage to the attacker’s Resolve.
and entirely reliant on your Points for the Verbal Combat. Instead of attacking you can use one of the
EMP. Antagonistic attacks, Verbal Combat tools. ese take one full
on the other hand, are of- Resolve = ((WILL + INT)/2)x5 turn to use, but help you in a Verbal Com-
ten more powerful and can A Verbal Combat works much like a regular bat.
benefit from torture and combat, with each person using an attack
torment. The catch is that and their target defending with one of the
antagonistic attacks are more
likely to win you the combat Empathetic Attacks
and ensure that your target
either avoids you or acts as Name Skill DMG Effect
your enemy in the future.
Seduce Seduction 1d6+EMP Defender is a little hot under the collar and takes a cumu-
Making Friends Persuade Persuasion lative +2 damage from each Seduction for the combat.

Making a friend of your Appeal Leadership 1d6/2+EMP If you end a combat with a successful Persuasion check,
opponent makes them an you have convinced them to agree with you.
official Acquaintance (as Befriend Charisma
per Lifepath). They will be The defender thinks you probably have the right idea
friendly towards you and 1d10+EMP and takes a cumulative +1 damage from empathetic at-
won’t actively act against
you without good reason. tacks for each time you succeed at Appeal.
The second time you be-
friend and opponent you 1d6+EMP If you end a combat with a successful Befriend attack,
make them a dedicated you have made a friend of your opponent.
friend. This means they will
not only be friendly but also Antagonistic Attacks
be likely to do things for
you and help you out. The Name Skill DMG Effect
third time you befriend an
opponent they become a Deceive Deceit 1d6+INT If you end a combat with a successful Deceit check, you
“blood-brother” and will do Ridicule Social Etiquette 1d6+WILL have convinced the defender of the lie.
just about anything for you Intimidate Intimidation 1d10+WILL
as long as it’s reasonable. If you successfully Ridicule a person in public, you also
lower their Reputation with those people by 2 for each

successful Ridicule. This penalty lasts for one day.
Anyone you intimidate is afraid of you and takes a cu-
mulative +4 damage from Intimidation for the combat.

177

Defenses

Name Skill DMG Extra Effect Modifiers in
Verbal Combat
Ignore Resist Coercion 1d10+EMP NONE
Just like in “to-the-death”
Counter- See Extra Effect See Attack Instead of taking a defensive action you can make an combat, Verbal Combat can
argue attack that negates the first attack. If you beat the op- also use modifiers to aug-
ponent’s roll, their attack is negated and your’s does ment rolls. If you are trying
Change the to intimidate a fully armed
Subject damage. and armored knight with a
spoon or trying to seduce
Disengage Persuasion 1d6+INT NONE a grieving widower at their
wife’s funeral it’s going to be
Resist Coercion NONE Ends the argument. quite a bit harder than con-
vincing a bartender to give
Empathetic Tools you a drink on the house.
On the other hand, brib-
Name Skill DMG Effect ing a greedy tollkeeper or
convincing someone to do
Romance Charisma NONE The Romanced party falls in love with the Romancer. something they might want
Study Human NONE This gives them a -3 against the Romancer in Verbal to do anyway is easier than
Perception Combat, but only as long as the attacker continues to getting that aforementioned
convince the defender they are in love and treats them drink. Largely, modifiers in
well. If the romance ends poorly, the defender gets a per- Verbal Combat are left up to
the GM’s discretion. When
manent +3 against the attacker’s empathetic attacks. in doubt, keep in mind
Studying allows you to look for or probe weaknesses in that a mild modifier is a 1,
your opponent’s mental armor. Roll against their INTx3. a moderate modifier is a 3,
If you succeed, you get +2 to Verbal Combat for one and a major modifier is a 5.
This should allow you to add
round. modifiers to just about any
situation by gauging the se-
Antagonistic Tools verity of the situation.

Name Skill DMG E ect Torture & Torment

Imply Persuasion or NONE Implying allows you to suggest something good or If you have a target at your
Bribe Deceit NONE bad about your current argument. If you succeed, you mercy and do damage to
lower your opponent’s defenses by -4. You can only use them, you take negatives
Gambling to empathetic attacks and
Imply once per combat. gain bonuses to antagonis-
For every 50 Crowns you o er, you gain +1 to your tic attacks. Harming a target
empathetic Verbal Combat rolls for the rest of the ght gives you a -3 to empathetic
attacks but grants a +3 to
if you succeed on your Gambling roll. Intimidation. Bringing a
target down to their wound
threshold gives you a -10 to
empathetic attacks but a +10
to Intimidation.

178

e World of the 179
Witcher
A Lesson
“ e Golden Court, the country town’s elegant inn, was crowded and noisy.
e guests, locals and visitors, were mostly engaged in activities typical for I, Brandon of Oxenfurt, Pro-
fessor of History at Oxenfurt
their nation or profession. Serious merchants argued with dwarves over the University, have been asked
price of goods and credit interest. Less serious merchants pinched the back- to contribute a chapter of this
sides of the girls carrying beer, cabbage and beans. Local nitwits pretended to tome regarding the world
be well-informed. Harlots were trying to please those who had money while situation. Being a student of
discouraging those who had none. Carters and shermen drank as if there history both past and present,
were no tomorrow. Some seamen were singing a song which celebrated the I watch the tides of our world
ocean waves, the courage of captains and the graces of mermaids, the latter ebb and flow not just in the
graphically and in considerable detail.” safe and privileged world of
Oxenfurt, not just in Redania,
-Andzrei Sapkowski, Last Wish nor even just in the North. No,
I am an internationalist and I
believe that our lives are affect-
ed as much by the fate of oc-
cupied Aedirn or the Imperial
Will of Nilfgaard as they are by
the proclamations of our Good
King Radovid or the cost of figs
in the marketplace. I will prove
my point by showing you what
we know of the countries, reli-
gions, and powerful alliances of
our world. Take notes—there
will be a test after.

–Brandon of Oxenfurt

You’ve seen quite a bit about the world drastically di erent in customs and op-
around you through weapons, profes- eration. You can’t assume that working in
sions, and introductions to the game. the capital of Nilfgaard will be the same as
However, there’s a lot more to learn. At operating in Gheso.
the moment the world is split between the
Empire of Nilfgaard, the Northern King- Similarly, the Northern Kingdoms
doms, and Skellige. While these are the and Skellige are really only united by the fact
basic sides as far as the ird Nilfgaardi- that they are all ghting Nilfgaard. Further,
an War goes, there is a lot more di eren- with the loss of many of their rulers, most of
tiation to be made between the alliances the North has fallen into chaos.
within these factions. e Empire of Nil-
fgaard is a tremendous expanse covering e Importance of Alliances
many many countries and regions. Due
to its rapid and brutal expansion much of Who you ally yourself with is as important
the Empire is held under Imperial law but as where you’re from in the world of e
remains true to its original culture. is Witcher. Each alliance, including religions,
means that while the country of Nilfgaard comes with allies and enemies and it’s as-
functions one way, its further provinces sumed that if you join an alliance you will
and more autonomous duchies may be be working towards its goals. As we’ve seen
with the Lodge of Sorceresses, that can be
problematic.

180 e North
500 years ago, the Nordlings arrived, in an
Elven Ruins event called the Landing of the Exiles. ese Temeria
were the humans destined to take over all of
Numerous human cities such the North. ey had cautious relations with In Temeria, Dezmod became the rst king at
as Vizima, Maribor, and Tre- the dwarves and gnomes, but relations with the time of the Landing. ere are legends
togor were built on top of the the elves became hostile. For a long time hu- about short-lived kings between Dezmod
ruins of ancient elven cities. man settlement progressed rapidly. Territo- and his son, Geddes, but at the ascension of
rial agreements and treaties with the elves Geddes we are on rmer ground. His rst
“King” Abdank were made and broken at the convenience son was born to a mistress named Vinifrida,
of the humans. At rst the elves believed who it is said was a full-blooded elf. So it
Legend says that King Dez- that eventually the humans would stop ex- is possible that the Temerian royal line has
mod of Temeria was succeed- panding, but it never happened. Eventually some elf in it. e line has carried on un-
ed by a mentally deficient son, the werebubbs and vran were forced back broken until Foltest, giving Temeria marked
Abdank. During his rule, he into a few small enclaves and the elves be- stability.
was “advised” by the sorcerer gan to retreat, destroying their glorious cit-
Raffard the White, who turned ies behind them. But not all the elves were Aedirn
down the crown but kept the willing to resign themselves. A young elvish
power. They resolved the Six woman named Aelirenn led one last cam- Aedireen, the granddaughter of the rst
Year War, though little of that paign against the humans. Many, many king of Aedirn, won a great deal of new ter-
story has come down to us. It young elves were killed. ritory through wars and negotiations. In the
seems fairly certain that Raf- face of a possible attack by Redania, Aedi-
fard objected to the formation Redania reen made a treaty with the new nation of
of the Brotherhood of Sorcerers, Kaedwen. e attack was repulsed and Ae-
and was killed. After his death, Soon a er the Landing, the four major dirn claimed the Lormark or Upper Aedirn.
and a few years of Abdank countries of the North began to form. In But seizing this fantastically fertile land an-
fumbling along, the king died Redania, Sambuk ruled an area including gered Kaedwen and has soured relations.
and a struggle ensued between Novigrad and the Pontar Delta. e port Today Aedirn, the most sophisticated of the
Maribor and Ellander. Sup- and the river drove Redanian trade devel- four preeminent countries, has been ripped
posedly Adalbert of Maribor opment. Eventually as the countries became apart by Nilfgaard.
succeeded Abdank, and was larger, the Redanian trade empire bumped
succeeded by Geddes. This is up against the Temerian trade empire across Kaedwen
an opportunity for some seri- the Pontar, sometimes with volatile results.
ous scholarship . e early people who went up the Pontar
Sambuk’s grandson Radovid I, also and turned le into the rocky, forest-cov-
–Brandon of Oxenfurt known as Radovid the Great, solidi ed the ered mountains of Kaedwen must have been
Redania we know today. Radovid despised hardy stock. ere is little arable land in
his brother, Troydan, and suspected that he Kaedwen, but the people love their land and
was scheming to take the throne. He gave pride themselves on being tough and resil-
his brother what should have been an hon- ient. ey have many legends of their early
or title: dominion over the northern prov- kings, but their political history starts with
ince of Kovir; a cruel joke, as the province King Benda, who helped negotiate the Trea-
of Kovir has eleven months of winter and ty of Lan Exeter, ending the war between the
August. Little did Radovid know that Kovir forces of Redania and Kaedwen and those
contained one of the largest gold deposits in of Kovir, making Kovir and Poviss an inde-
the North and 70% of the world’s dimeriti- pendent nation. Benda’s grandson Henselt
um. Kovir and Poviss are now the wealthiest is a good military mind, but is more known
countries in the North. for his intense loathing of non-humans.

181

182 Redania

The “Free City” of Redania remains untouched by Nilfgaardian forces. Our
Novigrad young king, Radovid the Stern, works tirelessly to unify the
Northern forces to push back the Nilfgaardian threat. e
Novigrad is the largest city in current northern boundary of Redania touches nations of
Redania. As a result of its status the Hengfors League, while the great Pontar River is the
and its placement at the mouth southern border and is the highway for Redania’s trade
of the Pontar it is the ultimate empire. In the west it is bounded by the Gulf of Praxeda
trade center. For many years and the Northern Sea. e wooded hills then roll east up
Novigrad was a free city: the to the Kestrel Mountains, which have traditionally been
diversity of the beings there was the boundary between Redania and Kaedwen. Recently, in
only exceeded by the diversity response to a call from Kaedwen, King Radovid has sent
of trade items. Since its recent Redanian troops across the Kestrel Mountains, not to aid
occupation by Redania, the Kaedwen but to occupy, as a part his plan to consolidate the
witch hunters and Redanian Northern Kingdoms. is sparked the Winter War, as Kaedwen attempted to rally its forces
army have started to eliminate to push back Redania.
magic users in the city. You can King Radovid’s father was King Vizimir the Just. Redania thrived in his reign, but
still find anything you want darkness was on the horizon. In 1262 Nilfgaard started its depredations in the Northern
in Novigrad. Go down to the lands, including the destruction of Cintra. King Vizimir saw Redania through the First
docks to marvel at the trade Nilfgaardian War, but even during the peace Nilfgaardian spies and provocateurs sought
ships of all nations unloading to destabilize the country, sending proselytizing priests of the Great Sun and merchants
goods and look for rare ships with products priced to undercut domestic goods. e non-human races were egged on by
from faraway and exotic Ze- Nilfgaardian spies. is came to a head when an elven attacker assassinated King Vizimir,
rrikania and Ofier. Many of although there are those that believe that the assassin was hired by Vizimir’s sorceress ad-
the largest human trade fam- viser, Philippa Eilhart. At that time Radovid was only thirteen years old and Redania was
ilies have their headquarters in the midst of the Second Nilfgaardian War. Queen Hedwig reigned in Redania, but power
in Novigrad. There is also the rested with a regency council led by the head of Redanian Intelligence, Sigismund Dijkstra,
Grand Temple of the Eternal and his lover, the sorceress Philippa. e sorceress unwisely treated Queen Hedwig and the
Fire, the largest temple in the young Prince Radovid very badly. ey say it was her arrogance that burned a vast hatred
North. of sorceresses into our king at a young age. When he took the throne he realized the Lodge
of Sorceresses had too much in uence on the Northern kings. Radovid’s witch hunters,
–Brandon of Oxenfurt previously the most fanatical of the Knights of the Flaming Rose, have since hunted down
many mages.
Tretogor is the capital of Redania. Aside from its castle and large administration
buildings it is very modest. e city guard is very active—magic users and many non-hu-
mans are soon swept up and not be seen again. Tretogor’s dungeons are famous for being
the last stop for Scoia’tael on their way to execution. Almost everyone in Tretogor works for
or is in town to visit the government. With Novigrad so close, there is no major trade center
here.
Oxenfurt is the liveliest city in Redania. e Oxenfurt Academy and its libraries,
labs, and classrooms ll the city center. Around the edges are the taverns, bars, and broth-
els catering to the footloose but usually penniless students. ere is nothing like it in the
North, and new ideas and inventions boil out of it constantly.

Kaedwen 183

Kaedwen is the second largest country by area in the known Ban Ard
world a er Nilfgaard. But unlike Nilfgaard, most of Kaed-
wen is rocky, mountainous, or deeply forested. e north Ban Ard is set in the foothills
of the country is sparsely settled by independent-spirited of the Blue Mountains south-
communities. ey scratch a di cult living from the land east of Ard Carraigh. The city’s
and trade furs and lumber. ey tend to be conservative and main industry is mining, but
isolationist. e northern border of Kaedwen is between it is best known as being the
the northernmost peaks of the Kestrel and Blue Mountains. home of the Ban Ard Acade-
my, the school for training boys
e harsh conditions beyond this point have so far daunted inmagecraft. Atonetimethere
even the hardy settlers of Kaedwen. e eastern border is was a healthy rivalry between
the Blue Mountains. e southern boundary is the Pontar the boys’ school and the girls’
River. To the west are the Kestrel Mountains. Up to now this school. Generally the girls won
natural boundary has kept peace between Kaedwen and Re- due to the greater discipline
dania, but Kaedwen recently called King Radovid of Redania for aid against Nilfgaard. e and confinement of Aretuza.
“aid” Radovid sent was an army of occupation, not military support. is started a con ict The boys of Ban Ard are not
called the Winter War, as Redanian troops moved over the Kestrels and into Kaedwen to confined, much to the disap-
stay. With King Henselt missing or dead, there has been little organized defense. pointment of the townspeople.

Kaedwen is the youngest of the Northern countries. e humans pushed the elves –Brandon of Oxenfurt
back into the Blue Mountains and settled their country about 200 years ago, though that was
not the end of violence between Kaedweni and elves. e Scoia’tael have made many cruel Ban Glean
raids into the forests, and Kaedwen has replied by killing thousands of elves and dwarves
already assimilated into Kaedweni cities. ere are also wars with Aedirn over the Pontar Ban Glean is a city to the
Valley, or Lormark. is area is hotly disputed territory even as Nilfgaard advances toward southwest of the capital. It was
it. once the home of the Dun Ban-
ner, a light cavalry unit, dash-
Henselt has had some very powerful advisers. One such was Sabrina Glevissig, a ing in their cloaks and beaver
powerful native Kaedweni sorceress, beautiful and usually dressed in provocative clothing. fur hats. The unit was famous
She became the power behind the throne, leaving Henselt time for more pleasurable pur- for their brave action at the
suits. Unfortunately during the battle with Aedirn she chose to follow the instructions of Battle of Brenna. Unfortunate-
the Lodge of Sorceresses rather than Kaedwen’s best interests, causing vast Kaedweni casu- ly, while leading the Kaedweni
alties. Henselt had her burned at the stake. is was not the end, though: Sabrina put her army into battle once again,
death curse on the battle eld so that wraiths would ght the battle out over and over again the unit was shattered by the
until the curse was nally li ed just last year. sorceress Sabrina Glevissig, for-
mer adviser to King Henselt.
Ard Carraigh is the capital of Kaedwen, a hardy fortress city with few of the com-
forts and amenities you might nd in other capitals. It sits near the center of the country, –Brandon of Oxenfurt
not associated with any lake or river. e legendary founder of Henselt’s line, Viduka, was
led to this unusual site by a unicorn, which now features on the ag of Kaedwen. In town,
locals are likely to harass visitors who appear too “foreign” or ostentatious. It is a rough
town for non-humans, though dwarves are grudgingly accepted. Henselt’s palace is on a
blu just north of the main city and access for anyone other than nobles and military elite
is limited.

184 Aedirn

Aldersberg Aedirn is newer than Temeria and Redania, founded as hu-
mans worked their way up the Pontar a er the Landing of
Aldersberg is known for its the Exiles. It is bordered to the north by Kaedwen, on the
position in the First and Sec- west by the disputed Pontar Valley and the Mahakaman
ond Battles of Aldersberg. In Mountains, on the south by Lyria and Rivia, and on the
the first battle, the Northern east by the Blue Mountains. It was founded at roughly the
troops of King Demavend and same time as Kaedwen. e Kaedweni have always been
Queen Meve of Lyria broke jealous of the mild Aedirnian climate and its more arable
from negotiations and took lands. ese conditions made for a population skilled in
on the Nilfgaardians, under farming and dairying. e country had many small towns,
noted Nilfgaardian general most generally neat and clean. Unfortunately these enviable
Menno Coehoorn. The North- conditions resulted in Aedirn losing a lot of land to nearby
ern armies were routed. In the powers, primarily Kaedwen. Despite King Demavend III’s
second battle King Henselt of noted tactical skills, which allowed him to anticipate Nilfgaard in the First Nilfgaardian
Kaedwen joined Demavend War, Aedirn has become smaller and smaller.
and Meve, and the Nilfgaard- Now the bulk of Aedirn is awash in death and devastation. Everything fell into
ians were overcome. The chaos when King Demavend was assassinated by Letho of Gulet on the king’s pleasure
battlegrounds outside the city barge. His current sorcerer, his bodyguard, and the well-known archer Tybalt were killed
are only now recovering, and as well. Demavend was a ruthless and unpleasant king, looking for any excuse to send “pu-
scavengers sometimes find ar- nitive expeditions” into Dol Blathanna, but Aedirn dearly misses his tactical mind. Aedirn
mor and weapons left after the is occupied by Nilfgaard, which is probably gathering its forces for an assault on the Pontar
battles. Also well known in Al- Valley. e people looked to Demavend’s son, Prince Stennis, but the word spreads that he
dersberg is the tale of Jacques de may already be dead, perhaps lynched for attempting to poison Saskia, Virgin of Aedirn. It
Aldersberg, who left this town is unlikely Aedirn will receive aid from Kaedwen. In the last war, Kaedwen turned traitor
as a hungry waif and rose to be to all the North and formed an agreement with Nilfgaard to split up Aedirn as spoils of
the Grand Master of the Order war. Aedirn’s lands were only returned at the Peace of Cintra. As Demavend hated elves
of the Flaming Rose before he passionately, we can write o aid from Dol Blathanna. During the Second Nilfgaardian War,
descended into madness. advancing Nilfgaardian troops dismantled or destroyed all industrial centers, from forging
to weaving. All they dismantled they loaded into wagons and took to Nilfgaard, as well as
–Brandon of Oxenfurt all the crops and livestock they could nd. I do not envy the Nilfgaardian troops assigned
to cart Aedirn’s wealth and food all those miles home to the South through angry, starving
civilians with nothing to lose.
Vengerberg is the capital of Aedirn. It was once one of the largest, most prosperous,
and most beautiful of the Northern cities. It sits on important trade crossroads and its mar-
ketplaces, factories, schools, and churches were the envy of many. Historically, Vengerberg
is known for producing beer, spirits, dyes, and textiles. Elves would not be comfortable in
Vengerberg. Aedirn’s displeasure does not typically extend to dwarves, especially the Vival-
di family of the Vivaldi and Sons bank, but there has been at least one non-human pogrom.
Nilfgaard did great damage to the city during the Second Nilfgaardian War due to the hor-
ri c agreement between Kaedwen and Nilfgaard, but a er the Peace of Cintra the citizens
of Vengerberg started to rebuild their city. Now Vengerberg is again in Nilfgaardian hands.
Who knows what will happen?

Temeria 185

Temeria is more populated and more central to the North- Adda the Strygga
ern Kingdoms than its neighbor Redania. Historically it
has been very strong, a rival to Redanian power. Over the After seven years, Foltest’s
course of time, the Temerian king has held the titles King daughter—Adda—rose again
of Sodden, Sovereign of Pontar and Mahakam, and Senior as a monster: a strygga, just
Protector of Ellander and Brugge. is area is falling into over a meter tall but extremely
chaos and will be di cult to wrest from the advancing Nilf- fast and extremely strong with
gaardian army. Many villages have been looted and burned. longclaws and sharp teeth.She
Others still exist, but their people have su ered unbelieva- came out at night and killed so
ble horrors. Both armies have stripped the land for provi- many people that a new castle
sions and executed “collaborators,” frequently non-humans. was built elsewhere. Foltest was
Do not travel through this area but in the greatest necessity. desperate to find a solution
that would save the child, who
Temeria is bordered on the north by the great Pon- was all he had left of his belov-
tar River, which creates the boundary with Redania. Tributaries of the Pontar, the Ribbon, ed Adda. The famous witcher
as well as the Yaruga in the south, penetrate the land creating highways for valuable trade. Geralt of Rivia broke the curse
on Foltest’s daughter and she
e eastern border is the Mahakaman Mountains, with large dwarf strongholds that pro- emerged as a mentally dull girl
duce the best iron and steel in the world. On the western side, Temeria is largely isolated by who was not at that time gen-
the Brokilon Forest and its distinctly anti-social dryads. In the south, Temeria borders the erally considered as part of the
Temerian protectorates of Brugge and Sodden, now lost to Nilfgaard. succession.

It wasn’t always like this. Temeria was founded in the eighth century by King Dez- –Brandon of Oxenfurt
mod just a er the Landing of the Exiles. Four hundred years later, King Medel ruled une-
ventfully with his queen and two children. e son, Foltest, and the daughter, Adda, were Gors Velen
very close. No one appreciated how close until Foltest announced that he intended to marry
his sister and make her his queen. e royal advisers were horri ed. Unfortunately, Adda Gors Velen is the second larg-
was already pregnant. She died giving birth to a stillborn daughter so deformed that one est Northern trade port after
midwife went insane. ere were whispers that it was retribution for their unnatural liai- Novigrad. At the booths of
son, but Foltest was inconsolable. the marketplace one can find
almost anything from almost
e Nilfgaardian Emperor’s cleverest strategy was arranging the assassination of anywhere. Northwest of Gors
King Foltest and King Demavend of Aedirn by the former witcher, Letho of Gulet, and Velen is the island of Thanedd.
tying those deaths to the Lodge of Sorceresses. e loss of the kings’ tactical and diplomatic Thanedd was the home of Are-
skills has been keenly felt in the war. Since Foltest’s death, Temeria has been plagued inter- tuza, the magic training acade-
nally by battling nobles. Constable John Natalis is a su cient supreme commander of the my for young girls and also the
Temerian forces, but he is not a diplomat and cannot handle the fractious dukes. No true scene of the Thanned Coup,
leader has emerged, and the Nilfgaardians currently lay siege to the capital city of Vizima. which changed forever the rela-
tionship between sorcerers and
Vizima is a large walled city encompassing an island at the edge of Lake Vizima, kings.
which empties into the Pontar River. Temerian soldiers and conscripts constantly harass the
Nilfgaardian siege forces. In the future, if the city is rescued by Northern forces, it is well –Brandon of Oxenfurt
worth visiting. However one should avoid the Old Vizima quarter, a run-down ghetto for
non-humans.

186 Skellige

Rumors of Skellige e Skellige Isles are an archipelago o the coast of Verden.
ere are six clans, each with its own territory. Each clan
Because these islands are so re- has a jarl but there is only one king, chosen by vote. Other
mote, many people believe the than that, all Skelligers are considered equal. eir islands
rumors about Skellige. That it take the brunt of ocean storms, and are not particularly rich
is primitive and the people are or fertile. eir coastlines are rugged with tall, jagged cli s
ruthless, uncultured barbari- and few natural harbors to land in, but many ords to hide
ans. But this is not entirely true. in. Before the First Nilfgaardian War they had strong alli-
They are a hardy people. The ances with the Kingdom of Cintra. e strong, wise, and
men dominate and do the fish- beautiful Queen Calanthe of Cintra, a er being widowed,
ing and raiding, but the wom- couldn’t rule due to her gender. She married Eist Tuirseach
en are given much respect in of the Skellige Clan Tuirseach as her second husband. Eist,
their domain. The sea is rough who was at that time King of Cintra and Skellige, fell in the
around the islands and their Battle of Marndal, leading Cintran and Skellige warriors against Nilfgaard. Since then the
ships, the result of hundreds of Skelligers have hated Nilfgaard. ey are not so much part of the North as they are an ally
years on the sea, are simple and with similar goals. No nation’s ships are safe while sailing through Skellige waters.
light. Skelligers are used to the All six clans trace their lineage back to their legendary champion, Hemdall. e
facts of a dangerous life. most powerful is Clan An Craite with their current jarl, Crach an Craite. eir territory
is the northern half of the largest island, Ard Skellige. is clan has had many strong jarls
–Brandon of Oxenfurt and kings. eir colors, which identify them on the battle eld, are red, brown, and black.
Clan Tuirseach lives on the island of An Skellige. eir colors are blue with bearskin and
Jarl Houndsnout their current jarl is Svanrige. e previous jarl, Eist Tuirseach, became King of both Cin-
tra and Skellige. Torgeir Tuirseach the Red was a legendary pirate of the clan who sacked
The Jarl of Clan Tordarroch at Nilfgaard’s capital, the City of Golden Towers, several times with his companion Gerd, of
the time of the ice giant attack, the Bear Witchers. Clan Brokvar, and their jarl Udalryk, live on Spikeroog. Clan Brokvar is
Harald Houndsnout, returned known to produce archers without equal, but many clans still consider them cowards a er
to Undvik to reclaim it, but they once le the eld of battle because their opponents were too numerous. eir colors
there has been no word from are black and gray. Clan Hemaey, and their jarl Donar an Hindar, live on Hindars all. is
him in some time. is also the site of the largest temple and sacred grove of the goddess Freya. Donar an Hindar
is a much-revered and patient elder jarl and the Hemaey are a pious group. eir colors
–Brandon of Oxenfurt are yellow, black, and white. Clan Dimun lives on Faroe, the smallest island. ey are the
most merciless of raiders. eir jarl is Holger Black Hand who said “A er you’ve taken their
The Death of Bran wenches and their gold, burn their home to the ground. at’s how Clan Dimun lives.”
eir colors are brown, black, and olive. Clan Drummond, with their jarl Madman Lugos,
Recently, King Bran of Skellige live on the southern half of Ard Skellige. e Drummonds still rage over the seizure of the
passed on. In his old age he northern half of their island by the more powerful Clan an Craite. One’s position in Clan
decided, as many elderly Skel- Drummond is based on personal combat. e Drummond colors are purple and black
ligers do, that he would rather with minor blue points. Clan Tordarroch is in limbo now, as their people, once known as
die in battle than in his bed. excellent smiths and sherman, have recently been chased o Undvik by an ice giant and
King Bran died fighting a great an army of sirens. Most of them are living in An Craite territory on Ard Skellige.
Skellige bear with only a knife.
His death has left a vacuum of
power on the Skellige Isles.

–Brandon of Oxenfurt

Kovir & Poviss 187

e Hengfors League

ere are several small feuding principalities or duch- e Hengfors League was once the East March of Kovir.
ies north of Redania. e two most powerful, Kovir and Since breaking away, that area has broken up into several
Poviss, are joined under King Tankred at this time. ey small principalities: mainly Caingorn, Creyden, Malle-
are not involved with the Nilfgaardian War other than to ore, and Woe eld. Sandwiched between Redania and
send signi cant monetary support to the North. Origi- Kovir and Poviss, the League would have to cooperate
nally given to a casto member of Redanian royalty, the or be annexed. A er 200 years of war, King Niedamir of
backwater of Kovir and Poviss became very successful Caingorn nally united this group by military interven-
a er nding large veins of rare minerals, including di- tion, executing anyone who opposed him. e League
meritium and 80% of the world’s current gold deposits, are followers of the Cult of Kreve, the thunder god of the
in their territory. King Tankred has also made a point of North. Kreve’s followers take action to ght evil in the
saving and employing sorceresses cast o , and in some world, but also within themselves. Originally, the Order
cases tortured or imprisoned, by Redania. of the White Rose was the military arm of Kreve, but
they have evolved into the Order of the Eternal Flame.
ere are some who say that the University of Knights of the Eternal Flame, who hunt down non-hu-
Lan Exeter in the Koviri capital has long surpassed Ox- mans and mages, are discouraged from settling in the
enfurt as a seat of knowledge. Lan Exeter is a beautiful League due to their close association with King Radovid
city, but Port Vanis, the summer capital on the Gulf of of Redania.
Praxeda, has no equal for elegance. In August, many no-
bles leave their summer homes and throw extravagant Many of the nobles have winter homes in east-
parties on brightly decorated barges plying the Grand ern Malleore, now famous for its hot springs. Not being
Canal. e canal frames the perfect view of the summer overly fond of hot springs himself, King Niedamir built a
palace of Ensenada and is lined with the summer homes sumptuous winter home there for his brother-in-law Yo-
of nobles, mining magnates, and trade barons. e hous- gin Pieters, long thought to be the head of Neidamir’s se-
es are very narrow, as they are taxed by canal frontage cret police. Travelers to the o en snowbound countries
foot. of the League say marvelous things about the Schmaltz-
nudeln. It is apparently similar to the fried doughrings
Although not in power herself, Dowager Queen found in Oxenfurt.
Zuleyka has long had strong in uence in Kovir and Pov-
iss. She is an enthusiastic follower of St. Lebioda and his
“Good Book,” much of which is common-sense homilies
and parables. It is believed that this common sense has
seen these countries through some sticky situations.

188 Cidaris Verden

Lyria&Rivia

e small country of Lyria and Riv- Cidaris acts as a blockade to Nilf- Verden has an unusual story. is
ia is an area between the southern gaardian sea power. It is a coastal long strip of land south of Kerack
Blue Mountains and the Mahakaman country north of Verden, a nation of sits at the mouth of the mighty Yaru-
Mountains surrounding the cities of rough-and-tumble seafarers, inde- ga River and has a long, welcoming
Lyria and Rivia. e summer court pendent and ready for a ght. Cidaris sea-coast. It’s in a perfect place for
is in Lyria, the winter court in Riv- is ruled by King Ethain from his trade, but for the Brokilon Forest on
ia. Here you will nd Dol Angra, one capital of Cidaris, which is built on its eastern border. is impassable
of the few good fords on the Yaruga. elvish ruins. He is a wise king, a good dryad forest so infuriated King Ervy-
Before being captured by Nilfgaard it strategist, a lover of art and artists, ll of Verden that he o ered bounties
was ruled by Queen Meve, frequent- and a little bit of a pirate. e court for dryad scalps, earning the enmi-
ly called “a second Calanthe” a er is well known for culture, and the ty of all non-humans. At the time of
the powerful and beloved queen of best performers visit o en, includ- the Second Nilfgaardian War, King
Cintra. Currently, bands of Rivian ing the well-known bard, Dandelion. Ervyll broke from the North and
guerilla ghters still stalk the forests. Bremervoord is a small seaport city- signed a treaty with Nilfgaard. is
Rivians in particular are known as state, a vassal of Cidaris. It is ruled by was very unpopular in Verden, and
hardy souls and exceptionally skilled Duke Agloval, whose wife was once Ervyll was overthrown by his son
crossbowman, but they are also a mermaid, if you believe the ballad- Prince Kistrin and later assassinat-
widely considered wild and unscru- eers. e Bremervoord cutlass is the ed. Fortunately for Verden, the Nil-
pulous. Although not born in Rivia, favored weapon of pirates. Cidaris fgaardian representatives there were
Geralt of Rivia was knighted by Meve has a long history of resisting Skel- notably inept. e opposition led by
for helping holding o Nilfgaardian lige pirates, and has a fair number of the now-King Kistrin in league with
forces at a critical moment in the pirates of its own. Its army contribut- Skellige and Cintra forced Nilfgaard
Battle for the Bridge on the Yaruga ed greatly at the battle of Brenna in out of Verden. Unfortunately Verden
during the 2nd Nilfgaardian War. the First Nilfgaardian War and they has since been retaken. King Kistrin’s
Ironically, Geralt also died in Rivia are now cooperating with Skellige. whereabouts are unknown.
defending non-humans in a pogrom. Nilfgaardian ships must run a gaunt-
I gather he was killed by a very or- let between Skellige and Cidaris or
dinary man with a pitchfork, named chance deeper, more dangerous wa-
Rob. ters to get to the North.

189

e Elderlands The War Of The

e growing antipathy between humans sisted in talks that Dol Blathanna be Races
and non-humans is a source of point- le to the elves as a homeland at the
less violence every day in the North. expense of the Scoia’tael who could not The war of the races, which
Human and elf con ict goes back to the be received in Dol Blathanna until a er cannotbeignoredinourworld,
legend of Lara Doren and Cregnan of the war. It would be naïve to think that goes all the way back to the
Lod, and the destruction of the elvish this is anything other than a ploy by the Landing of Exiles. I have nev-
palace at Loc Muinne by Redania just a Emperor to encourage the Scoia’tael to er heard of equally poor race
few years a er the elves there had agreed continue as a thorn in the side of the relations before that point. No
to educate human children in the mag- North. And yet, in the end, the elves do major fracas between dwarves
ical arts. Loc Muinne started a human/ wind up with a recognized homeland, and gnomes, no vicious battle
elvish war which culminated in the bat- which is far more than they would ever between elves and werebbubbs.
tle at Shaerrewedd. is is not to say that receive from any force in the North. We No, this appears to be a spe-
humans have been the only o enders. It have to assume that the Scoia’tael’s aid of cifically human condition. By
was a Scoia’tael massacre at Fort Leyda the Nilfgaardian cause at anned, and the time the Exiles arrived, the
in Kaedwen that prompted the pogrom the participation of the elven Vrihedd dwarves and gnomes had dug
in the capital of Ard Carraigh that killed Brigade led by Isengrim Faoiltiarna with in under the mountains. The
many assimilated elves and dwarves. Nilfgaardian units at the Battle of Bren- only serious contender for us
na, are more a case of a temporary alli- was the elves, and by the time
At the time of the First and Sec- ance based on a shared enemy. e fact they realized they were in a
ond Nilfgaardian Wars, King Demavend that Nilfgaard handed over Isengrim fight for their lives it was too
of Aedirn and King Henselt of Kaed- Faoiltiarna and the o cers of the Vri- late. They are a proud race,
wen, were rabidly anti-non-human. hedd Brigade only emphasizes that Nil- and that is understandable in
Such racism looms over the assimilated fgaard’s attitude towards the elves of the regards to their art, architec-
non-humans in the human cities at all North are based, not on compassion, but ture, literature, and general
times. ey have no idea when a crowd expediency. aesthetic values, but as far as
of angry, intolerant humans will come survival is concerned they are
to their door or burn their business. It Humans hate dwarves less vir- pitiful. Human culture has not
is only a matter of time before humans ulently, probably because they produce risen to their level, but we have
manufacture an excuse to destroy the things that humans want and o en live the tenacity and ingenuity of
dwarvish banking families that under- under mountains on lands humans do cornered sewer rats. These are
write business in the North, solely out of not want. Unfortunately this does not the things that the Scoia’tael is
greed and self-righteousness. exempt the dwarves from human har- learning from us now but they
assment and violence. One of the few cannot take this knowledge
e people of Nilfgaard, includ- known dwarven retreats in human back to their people in the last
ing their Emperor, seem not to hold lands, the city of Vergen, was recently retreat that is Dol Blathanna.
these same feelings. It is di cult to attacked by Kaedwen, and the outcome As times become harder and
know what life is like for non-humans is as yet unknown. national boundaries clash to-
in Nilfgaard as very little information gether, we use the non-human
about it comes to the North. We do not Can anything ever stop the ani- population as scapegoats for
know of any non-human strongholds in mosity? If the elves retreat to Dol Blath- much of our human stupidity
the South with the exception of a gnom- anna, letting their rage die with the and arrogance.
ish enclave in the Tir Tochair, but we Scoia’tael, if the dwarves retreated to
do know that there are assimilated elves their underground world where they are –Brandon of Oxenfurt
and dwarves living in Nilfgaardian cit- not second class citizens, until the hu-
ies, probably under the same terms as mans no longer vent their wartime fear
humans of those provinces. and loss as hatred, could the races start
over again? I’d like to think so.
We know that the Emperor in-

190 Mahakam

Brouver Hoog e gnomes were the rst to come to the North, followed by
the dwarves, possibly as much as 500 years before the elves
Haven’t been back to Ma- came. e humans were even later, but today they have
hakam in a while. Heh, kin- pushed the dwarves back to their mountain strongholds,
da busy in the lowlands what of which Mahakam in the Mahakaman Mountains is the
with the war and keepin’ the largest. Humans virtually never visit the Mahakams except
Temerians stocked. Once tried for occasional trade. All races are aware that the iron the
to get aid for Temeria durin’ the dwarves mine in their mountains, and particularly Mount
Second War. Oh boy...didn’t go Carbon, is exceptional. Weapons made from it are light,
as planned, lemme tell ya. Ya sharp, and strong. But the dwarves do not work alone. e
see, elder Brouver Hoog of clan gnomes live deep in the mines and do not come out, which
Hoog calls most of the shots in is why we see so few, but their cra smanship is impeccable.
Mahakam. Fine dwarf in his ey are the technologists of Mount Carbon. Long ago, perhaps before even the dwarves
time but he’s an old bastard arrived, they forged the legendary gwyhyr or gnomish sword. We don’t know how that de-
now. Sure, got the best in mind sign was lost but today the dwarves smelt their already excellent iron with traces of other
for Mahakam but he don’t substances. e gnomes then sharpen and nish the blades, which can be a meter long and
give a rat’s ass for the rest of the weigh less than a kilogram, to a razor-like edge. ose who know weapons swear by blades
world. He’ll do trade with the made in Mahakam using secret gnomish technology.
other countries but if ya ain’t e dwarves are a proud and stubborn people who know their history and stand by
a Mahakaman dwarf ya best their clan. While there are a number of clans, the elders strongly in uence them all, espe-
not expect any help from him. cially Elder Brouver Hoog of the Hoog clan in Mount Carbon. Probably because they have
Let’s just say I didn’t get the help retained their own land, the majority of dwarves remain neutral and adopt a live-and-let-
I was lookin’ for. Not from him, live attitude toward humans. Dwarves are deadly and very loyal when it comes to combat.
that is. Lucky enough, plenty e little-known Mahakam Volunteer Army, an all-dwarf unit, served as infantry for the
of young dwarves took a stand North and fought exceptionally bravely at major battles like Brenna and Maribor.
and volunteered to fight for the Outside of Mahakam, dwarves still run into race hatred in the North. Some of the
Northern Kingdoms. younger generations braid their beards (to be told from the dwarves loyal to the North) and
battle alongside the Scoia’tael in the Nilfgaardian army because Nilfgaard harbors much
–Rodolf Kazmer less hate for non-humans. In the wars, Nilfgaard passed by Mahakam, as they did with the
dryad stronghold of Brokilon. When dwarves leave Mahakam (in all-male groups) they
can generally integrate into human cities and start their own businesses. ey have brought
us ‘barrel,’ a complicated card game that, so far, no other race has taken the time to under-
stand. e detailed and beautiful barrel cards are made in Mahakam and have no equal.
is disproves the human theory that advanced dwarf technology applies only to weapons.
All of the major banks in the North are owned by dwarven families like the Giancardis and
Cianfanellis. e branches of these banks are widespread: the Cianfanelli bank has branch-
es in Zerrikania and Nilfgaard.
ere is much speculation about female dwarves. ey have less luxurious beards
and slighter builds. You may have seen female dwarves and not known it. Whether dwarven
ladies dress in a more feminine fashion in the safety of Mahakam is unknown. But wherev-
er you might nd them, watch your step. Dwarves are very protective of their women.

Dol Blathanna 191

Dol Blathanna, “the Valley of Flowers” in Elder Speech, is The Last Refuge
otherwise called the Edge of the World, where the valley
rolls up to the Blue Mountains. Up until 100 years ago this Elves’ve never been good at in-
was the beloved mother realm of the Aen Seidhe. When tegratin’. Or gettin’ along with
the humans came to Dol Blathanna, they recognized the just about anybody. Heh, we
amazing quality of the land—it grew any seed they planted, dwarves dealt with ‘em and
and lushly. ey drove the Aen Seidhe into the harsh, rocky they didn’t bug the gnomes too
peaks of the Blue Mountains and soon the straight lines much. But...oh boy...long and
of human agriculture reshaped the valley. Dol Blathanna’s the short of it is, us dwarves
rich land and plentiful animal life allowed the Aen Seidhe can mix in with the humans
to live comfortably as hunter-gatherers. e peaks of the in their cities and do pretty
Blue Mountains were nowhere near as bountiful, and the well for ourselves. Ain’t gonna
retreating Aen Seidhe lived desperate lives. It seemed only lie, it ain’t always easy, but we
a matter of time before the Aen Seidhe starved or desperately attacked the humans. try harder than the elves, I’d
say. By now, Dol Blathanna’s
During the second Nilfgaardian War, Nilfgaard made an agreement with the elves; the last refuge of elven culture
Nilfgaard would support an elvish homeland in Dol Blathanna but the price was that the and, hell, probably the whole
Scoia’tael must remain on the o ensive harrying the Northern forces. During the Peace of species in the North. They don’t
Cintra negotiations their status was negotiated away and they became a duchy of Aedirn, have to fight to survive or wor-
but without paying tribute. Nilfgaard also agreed to hand over many Scoia’tael o cers who ry about their neighbors rapin’
were then executed by the North. Also, humans previously living in Dol Blathanna were their daughters and hangin’
to be accepted back onto their land in the valley, with resources evenly divided between ‘em in the night. Problem is, it
humans and elves. But humans pulling out of the valley had destroyed everything, even as ain’t a lotta space, barely the
the Aen Seidhe had done when retreating from their cities, so elves and humans will have size of Kovir from what I hear. I
to rebuild together. e sorceress Francesca Findabair, known in Elder Speech as Enid an can’t say I know what’ll happen
Gleanna (Daisy of the Fields) and also held to be the most beautiful woman in the world, in the next few years but I can’t
was made queen of the new nation of Dol Blathanna. She is advised by Filavandrel of the imagine race relations between
World’s Edge, leader of the Blue Mountain elves. It is said that Dana Meadbh, the elvish the humans and the elves are
nature goddess has been seen in the valley from time to time, taking di erent forms. If she gonna get any better.
is there, we have no word of her taking action for the elves or against the humans beyond
her care and maintenance of the valley itself. She most o en appears in her radiant god- –Rodolf Kazmer
dess form in the summer, accompanied by a young stag and a large hedgehog. Despite the
comparative peace of Dol Blathanna, only a handful of elven children have been born there
since the Peace of Cintra.

192 Nilfgaard

Slavery Emhyr var Emreis owns two thirds of the en there are the provincial ar-
known world. It behooves our citizens to mies. If Nilfgaardian troops are burning,
Slavery is legal in Nilfgaard, learn a little about his nation and culture, raping, and looting randomly, you can be
though indentured servitude because if things go badly it could be your sure they are provincial troops: less trained,
is more prevalent, especially in culture too. less disciplined, with a thinly stretched of-
the heart of the Empire. Peo-
ple convicted of minor crimes, e Nilfgaardian Emperor Fer- cer corps to control them. It is important
debtors, and provincials taken gus var Emreis was the rst to make con- to remember that these troops may be from
prisoner may become inden- tact with the North and the one to expand a province only recently conquered and dec-
tured to a well-to-do family. the Kingdom of Nilfgaard into an empire. imated by the Nilfgaardian army to which
They can be indentured for He believed deeply in expansion and add- they now belong. You will want to stay away
anything from two to ten years. ed three provinces to Nilfgaard during his from Gemmerian troops at all cost. ey are
The penalty for a servant who reign: Etolia, Vicovaro, and Gemmera. known to be mad dogs and sadists.
tries to escape is severe, so as to
discourage rebellion. Nilfgaard has made it very clear: ac- During the Usurpator’s reign—just
cept Nilfgaard and respect the Emperor, and before Emperor Emhyr and just a er his
–Brandon of Oxenfurt all can be well. A cooperative country gains father—Ebbing, Maecht, Mettina, Gheso,
culture, education, protection, trade from Mag Turga, and Nazair were all conquered
Life in Nilfgaard far and wide—you may even be able to keep by Nilfgaard. e Mettinese are probably
your royals. Oppose Nilfgaard and pay the the most like Nilfgaard. e Mettinese pro-
Anyone born in Nilfgaard is a penalty. Temeria and Southern Aedirn are vincial army has its own o cer corps. ere
Nilfgaardian citizen. Citizens examples. ey are laid waste, and anything are a lot of people from Gheso in the army,
can vote and be in the Senate of value has been destroyed or hauled away. because enlisting gets one out of Gheso.
(although a senator is usually Nazair is the biggest problem for Nilfgaard.
a noble or a scholar). There e very land itself is burned and scarred.
are elven and dwarven citi- I digress here to speak of the Nilf- eir underground anti-Nilfgaard faction is
zens that have businesses in always planning something, and while inef-
Nilfgaard. Non-human races gaardian military. e young men of noble fective, they are persistent.
are treated better in Nilfgaard family who come out of the Braibant Mil-
than here and are rarely killed itary Academy a er four di cult years are Magic users in Nilfgaard are a dif-
in pogroms. Women may hold always perfectly dressed and snap to atten- ferent question. Anyone who shows signs of
land or businesses in their own tion at the drop of a pin. ey will go on to ability are sent to Gweision Haul, the Magic
name. In the upper classes, commands of their own, and the very best Academy. While there, they are overseen by
marriages are still arranged will be selected for the Impera Brigade, the the sta , and when they graduate they are
and the nobility keeps its ranks Emperor’s personal guard and the special watched by the Secret Service. Nilfgaard
closed. Some young women forces of the Empire. en there are the keeps mages on a very short leash.
have attended the Academy Nilfgaardian regulars. ey are trained to
(not the military academy but e Emperor learned from his fa-
a scholarly academy of learn- ght, and they do so without question. If a ther’s overthrow, and to this day keeps a
ing). young man shows terri c potential he may close eye on his nobles through his secret
be moved up to the top ight. He will be police. He is a gi ed strategist and a great
–Brandon of Oxenfurt adopted by a military family and cut o all manipulator. He is a stern man. He dresses
association with old friends. He is now of only in black, and always more plainly than
the military noble class and must learn all of anyone at court. At this time he holds most
its etiquette and politics. of Temeria as well as Aedirn, Verden, and
Lyria and Rivia. We don’t know what will
happen next.

193

194 e Heart of
Nilfgaard
The Great Sun
e Landing of the Exiles brought to our lands the humans
There is only one faith in Nilf- who later became the Nordlings. At that time, the Nilf-
gaard, that of The Great Sun. gaardians were already established in their country to the
It is a very old faith and many south. e capital (also called Nilfgaard) is lavish, larger
ancient sites tell us about the than Vizima, and lies along the river Alba. It is built entire-
early history. The Emperor is ly of marble and gold and is nicknamed the City of Golden
the head of the Church, leading Towers. Only those who are born within this country (or
great rituals at the solstices and better yet, this city) are true Nilfgaardians. Nilfgaardians
equinoxes. Few Nilfgaardians have their own language derived from Elder Speech and re-
still believe that he is the Sun in quire the populace of the provinces to learn it.
human form, but the rituals,
the priests, and the services are e politics of Nilfgaard are treacherous, dom-
part of the traditions that shape inated by a handful of noble houses constantly vying for
Nilfgaard. power. e Emperor is all-powerful, supported by his allied houses. ere is a senate, but
it rarely has much e ect on the Empire. e family of the current Emperor, Emhyr var
–Brandon of Oxenfurt Emreis, has ruled for most of Nilfgaardian recent history. Emhyr’s grandfather, Emperor
Torres var Emreis, founded the kingdom of Nilfgaard on the banks of the Alba and made
The Secret Guard it a force to be reckoned with, repulsing attacks from Gemmeria, its feral neighbor. Torres’
son Fergus var Emreis was the rst Emperor to contact the North and shape the Empire we
The Emperor’s Secret Guard know now. Emperor Fergus was overthrown by the Usurpator in 1233, however. e Usur-
are not very visible, but they pator continued the expansion of Nilfgaard under his own banner until Fergus’ son Emhyr
are loyal and effective. Anyone returned from exile and overthrew him in 1257.
caught sowing dissent within e young men (and some young women) of the city compete seriously for places
the Empire can expect a very at the Academy of Nilfgaard. Successful students will form many connections that will be
unpleasant visit. valuable later in life. A er two of their four years, the Academy students may challenge to
transfer to the Nilfgaardian Military Academy where they will be trained rigorously for the
–Brandon of Oxenfurt army. ey learn strategy and tactics as well as weapons mastery, horsemanship, sailing,
survival o the land, and methods of interrogation. Corporal punishment is common, as it
is felt that young o cers should know something about the punishment they dispense. e
best of the best will be chosen for the Impera Brigade, the Emperor’s personal guard.
Not all of Nilfgaardian culture is military. e Imperial Library at the Academy is
most renowned, on a par with Oxenfurt and Lan Exeter. e Academy summons outstand-
ing writers, musicians, scholars, philosophers, and scientists. It supports their work and
keeps them where they can be watched. ose magical few among the rank and le are sent
to the magic academy of Gweision Haul, located just outside the capital of Nilfgaard. Gwei-
sion Haul is a tremendous and foreboding complex large enough to house several hundred
students but sparse in its furnishings. Students are under guard at all times by Mage Hunt-
ers and wardens. ey learn not only control of their power, but obedience to the Emperor
and the Empire. Punishments are harsh, but a student can gather a great deal of knowledge
and stature as long as they remember their place and don’t cause trouble.

Etolia 195

Vicovaro Gemmera

Etolia lies on the north bank of the Vicovaro lies on the northern border By the middle of 1226, Fergus had
Alba, which also ows through the of Nilfgaard and the south-eastern incorporated Etolia and Vicovaro. It
Nilfgaardian capital, allowing easy border of Etolia. Many of the no- is no mistake that he chose these two
access. It has many favorable fea- bles have large, defensible castles in
tures including access to two major the mountains of eastern Vicovaro. rst. Western Gemmera is steppeland,
river systems and a sea coast. Life Nilfgaardian nobles took over some but Eastern Gemmera fades into arid,
in pre-imperial Etolia was simple. of these in their occupation. It also rocky hills. ese harsh surroundings
People lived well. e king primar- borders the Alba, but unlike Etolia, breed harsh warriors, miners, and
ily wanted to live comfortably, and Vicovaro has a strong, intelligent no- bandits. It was only a er Fergus had
his people were the same. Trading, bility. When Emperor Fergus started the resources and staging areas of Eto-
farming, shing, and hand embroi- to move and they saw what had hap- lia and Vicovaro that he was ready to
dery were their primary industries. pened to Etolia, Vicovaro graciously take on Gemmera. All Nilfgaard was
asked to join the Empire. All this al- really interested in were warriors and
In 1216, Emperor Fergus var lows the people to live plentiful, sta- Gemmera’s mines, whose large seams
Emreis decided to expand Nilfgaard. ble lives as long as they pay due re- of dimeritium are the only known
Etolia might not have been his rst spect to the nobles and to Nilfgaard. Southern source. Nilfgaardian troops
choice, but it t his purposes. Nilf- rooted out the population in Eastern
gaard attacked Etolia, overwhelmed ey educate their children and send Gemmera, in some areas leaving lit-
it, and made it an example. e Em- the smartest and most socially adept tle more than a few wandering goat
peror le no doubt about his goals to the Nilfgaardian Academy. It is no herders. e ercest of the Gemmeri-
and what he was willing to do to ac- mistake that these young people re- ans joined the Nilfgaardian army for
complish them. e structures that turn home with a solid knowledge of loot and mayhem. ey wield a sword
de ned Etolian life were decimated Nilfgaardian etiquette and contacts called the torrwr that stands almost
and the spirit of the Etolian people in the Nilfgaardian nobility. is 2 meters at the guard, appropriate
was broken. In forty years there has strategy allows Vicovaro to place for the towering Gemmerians them-
not been one organized popular up- many Vicovarians in not only the selves. Gemmerian units have twice
rising. Nilfgaard has created a new provincial government but the Nilf- as many Nilfgaardian o cers as other
provincial government, but it is the gaardian government. e Emperor’s provincial units, and it is not a desired
government of an overlord. e Eto- seneschal is Vicovarian. Vicovaro posting. ere are no large cities in
lians are unique in their farming of has managed their own absorption Gemmera, only well-established dirt
white belly sh, a 5-7 kilogram fresh- and are still proud to say “I am Vi- roads that take you to a chain of vil-
water sh from the Alba. covarian.” lages.

196 Maecht Mettina

Ebbing

In his initial advance, the Usurpator Most people in Maecht live in the Two thirds of Mettina is the Mag Dei-
bypassed Maecht to attack Ebbing. western forests and along the rivers. ra Plain. Mettinese children are prac-
Ebbing is an attractive target. It is a Despite the rocky and forbidding Tir tically born in the saddle. Expansive
large, sparsely populated area, and Tochair mountains in the east, some ranches raising cattle and Mettinese
richer than Maecht. e net of rivers traders established lucrative relations ponies are common. e Mettinese
in Ebbing creates marshy soil similar there with one of the last gnomish pony is usually white and is extreme-
to Temeria’s. Land reclaimed from cities, deep in the Tir Tochair moun- ly hardy, sure-footed, and intelligent.
the swamp is rich and fertile. Nilf- tains, for exquisite artistic and me- It is believed that the original stock
gaard took advantage of a succession chanical cra s. Two years a er the came from the Velda River Delta be-
crisis between Ebbing’s quadruplet absorption of Ebbing, the Usurpator tween Mettina and Gheso. Here the
heirs, where negotiations changed realized that he could not press fur- Markee, or Velda Delta horsemen,
daily depending on what faction was ther north with Maecht at his back. live rough all year round minding
in power. Finally the Usurpator lost the herds of horses that roam the
patience and sent in the army. e e battle was short. e Usurpator delta. is life also makes the Markee
Ebbing military was based on social settled a puppet king on Maecht’s proud and tough cavalrymen. at
status, not competence. ey took throne. e gnomes withdrew into delta is also the site of many wineries.
horrible losses, except the nobles— their mountain holds to avoid being
who ed the eld. e people were captured by Nilfgaard and forced e best known is Mettina Rose. It is
so tired of the continuing political to churn out Nilfgaardian weapons approachable—some might say “ta-
chaos that they adapted to the situ- and armor. When the Usurpator ble wine.” It is drunk throughout the
ation. Ebbing hasn’t caused problems was overthrown, the king was sum- provinces. Mettinese people are ex-
for Nilfgaard, so they are le large- moned to Nilfgaard for a private talk tremely proud of their wine; should
ly alone. ere is still a lot of cor- with Emhyr var Emreis. He has been wine-lovers from Touissant pass
ruption. A note for the traveler: you very careful to toe the Nilfgaardian through it is likely their wine discus-
may wish to avoid Claremont. e line since then. ere are three un- sion would devolve into a shouting
town is known to stage pit ghts for derground resistance movements match, or even a duel. Mettina’s king
the amusement of organized crim- centered around the country’s princ- pays tribute to Nilfgaard, o en in the
inals and depraved nobles. Rumors es. If they ever worked together, they form of horses and horsemen.
of aardvark pit ghting are not con- might cause trouble.

rmed.

Gheso Nazair 197

Mag Turga

Seeing the inevitable coming, the Nazair was a beautiful land, much Mag Turga is a small, isolated high-
Baron of Gheso surrendered to Nil- like Touissant. Some years ago, land between the Amell Mountains
fgaard—at least temporarily. When Duke Adam of Nazair decided to and the Tir Tochair. It is rugged and
the small force arrived for occupa- change the course of the Sansretour thickly forested, with dangerous
tion, the Baron thought he could River, not keeping in mind that the monsters and crumbling cli s. Be-
dictate terms to the army. e town river runs through countries oth- cause of the constant supply of fuel,
of Glyswen, or White River, is a good er than Nazair—in fact, not taking it is a good place to smelt the ore that
example of what happens when you into consideration that that river comes from Belhaven in the north-
try to dictate terms to Nilfgaard. All runs through the Sansretour Val- east. It is near the eodula Pass
that was le was ten huts, part of a ley, the most prized wine region in which allows one to cross from Naz-
palisade, and an inn. e popula- Nilfgaard. e result was that many air to Riverdell and the Slopes. Now
tion was decimated and Nilfgaard- vineyards and orchards turned into they supply wood to the Nilfgaard-
ian peasants were brought in to ll inhospitable bogs and swamps. More ian governments in Cintra, Nazair,
the space. e populace is afraid of recently, Nilfgaard took the country and Angren, although not everyone
Nilfgaardians, so the tasks a govern- in an unusually di cult battle. Since is pleased about that. While Mag
ment might be responsible for have then there have been multiple up- Turga’s isolation makes the people
been taken over by feuding petty no- risings, and the radical element still clannish and slow to warm to outsid-
bles and bandit kings. e roads are schemes in the taverns, wearing the ers, rumors have arisen that dwarves
not safe in Gheso. Bandits and slav- blue rose of Nazair. is dazzling are digging at the roots of their hills.
ers roam freely, especially on what azure rose is found only in Nazair. Mag Turga was absorbed peacefully
used to be called the “Velda Road” Cuttings are in great demand and by the Empire and the Empire was
a er the river it runs along, dividing are o en smuggled out of Nazair to glad of it. Battles through the deep
Gheso from Maecht. It is now called be sold for outrageous prices. One of forests and high cli s would have
“ e Bandit’s Road.” It will take you the most attractive places in Nazair cost a lot of time and lives. e iron
to the town of Loredo, also known as is Lake Muredach. ere are several smelters are primarily in the city of
“ e Bandit’s Lair,” where all manner beautiful summer homes of the no- Tergano. It’s a grimy town but is the
of folk from farmers to slavers can bility on the lake, most built to be largest one in Mag Turga. As the log-
rest, resupply, and trade their booty. defensible. One wonders what they gers move farther into the forest they
I have not been able to nd a single had in mind. Nazairian ceramics are are running into areas thick with gi-
reason why one might want to go to skilfully detailed and make reliable ant spider-like arachasae, so wood
Gheso. trade goods in large cities. prices are going up.

198 Angren Cintra

The Duchy of Attre

The duchy of Attre lies just Angren is a large, thinly populated Within the memory of the Cintrans,
south of the Cintran capital. province. Most of the people in An- the country was bright and busy
Despite being coastal most of its gren are foresters harvesting “Angre- with trade on the ocean and on the
territory is dry and hot. Even nian Gold”–cedars, sycamores, and Yaruga. In 1263 Nilfgaard marched
after the Nilfgaardian takeover pines. Unless you are a logger you on Cintra. Everyone had hoped
Attre still remains as a duchy of haven’t much reason to come here. that Emhyr var Emreis would be a
Cintra. The last Cintran ruler, Even the people who live here avoid peaceful neighbor, but it was not
Duke Windhalm, lead an un- Ysgith, in lower Angren. Its over- to be. e king, Eist Tuirseach, was
successful revolt against Nilf- grown forests hide giant crab spiders killed in battle. Since he was also a
gaard and was captured only and carnivorous plants that can eat a king of Skellige, the Skelligers have
to be made an example of by person whole. At one time there was been implacable foes of Nilfgaard
dying very painfully and pub- a druid’s circle at Caed Dhu, meaning since. When the Nilfgaardian army
licly. After this most of the Attre Black Grove, but there has been no encircled the Cintran castle, their
nobles sided with Nilfgaard. word from them in some time. ere queen, the almost mythical Calan-
is a small logging town on the Yaruga, the of Cintra, threw herself o the
–Brandon of Oxenfurt Cedar Flats, which is where the logs battlements. Calanthe, a strong and
are put through the mill or pushed canny woman, had reigned through
o in ra s toward larger towns to the three generations. With her death,
south. Recently the large mills have the Cintran people lost heart. is
started using their wood waste to became known as the Slaughter of
make attractive and cheap paper. e Cintra. e only hope for the Cin-
people are slow to warm up to new- trans is Calanthe’s granddaughter
comers but there is always work in the Cirilla. She disappeared during the
mills or forests. ere is a lone glim- battle, but next appeared marrying
mer of society and culture in a town the Emperor. ere is a puppet king
in the western part of Angren called who takes orders directly from the
Riverdell. It is in between the Yaruga Emperor, who rules Cintra from afar
and the Slopes and most of the popu- in the name of the Empress. Cintran
lation lives there. discontent sometimes encourages
the smuggling of goods to other af-

icted countries in the North.

199

Beyond the Borders

Up to now we’ve been dealing with what most
consider “the Known World”. But explorers
and merchants have long known that there
are more lands, even though they are an ex-
otic mystery.

To the west is the Great Sea. We know
that across the sea lies O er. e North some-
times has trade dealings with O er but I’ve
never hear of anyone going there. I include
more details later.

Along the ords of the Great Sea
north of Redania are the small kingdoms of
the Dragon Mountains. On the north side of
Redania and Kaedwen we know of Kovir and
Poviss and the Hengfor’s League, but there is
vast unknown and unmapped territory be-
yond them called the Far North.

To the south lies the Empire of Nilf-
gaard. We do not know how far south it ex-
tends or what is on the other side. Hopefully
some day, in peaceful times, we may trade in-
formation with the Nilfgaardian Academy to

ll in our knowledge.
To the east are the Blue Mountains

that form the eastern border of Kaedwen.
East of the Blue Mountains are impassable
swamps lled with a plethora of monsters,
and diseases in abundance. South of them the
Tir Tochair range forms the eastern boundary
of the Nilfgaardian provinces. ese provide a
secure boundary, but not as e ective as what’s
on the other side. e Great Korath Desert lies
in the rain shadow of the Tir Tochair Moun-
tains. ey say that no rain ever falls in the
Korath, also called the Frying Pan. It is a at
brown land with no plants or life beyond gi-
ant scorpions and ant lions. ere is rumor of
long-abandoned buildings in the wastes, but I
have no evidence of this. Beyond the Tir To-
chair and the Korath lie the mysterious lands
of Hakland and Zerrikania.