Terminology

This page contains common and important terminology.

• Action Points - points used during combat that determine how many actions a character may perform per turn. These are broken up into two types: non-combat and combat.
• Alchemicals - a type of consumable that is ingested, mostly liquor or tobacco; made by brewing.
• Ammosmithing - the crafting skill that allows one to make ammunition.
• Ammunition - bullets, arrows, or other ammo used by a weapon.
• Apothecaries - a type of consumable that is used in healing; made by apothecary.
• Apparel - anything worn by characters, including clothing and armor.
• Aptitude - one of six base Traits that determines how smart a character is.
• Archery - the combat skill that governs bows and crossbows.
• Archetype - one of several types of playable character, each having its own specific abilities and bonuses.
• Archetype Trick - a special skill available only to a character of a certain Archetype; all Archetypes have unique tricks.
• Arctix - the mechanics system of rules used by Rainwall RPG. It stands for Archetypes, Traits, and Influence.
• Armor - apparel items worn by characters to reduce damage.
• Armorsmithing - the crafting skill that enables one to make or upgrade armor.
• Blunt Weapons - using bludgeons to deal damage.
• Bonus Modifier - a stat that improves a specific score.
• Charisma - one of six base Traits that determines how charming a character is.
• Cognition - a character's mental acuity and condition.
• Combat - when player characters engage in combat with creatures, other players or NPCs.
• Condition - the state of use an item, weapon, etc. is in.
• Consumable - an item that can be consumed or used once to provide a specific effect (food, poison, health, etc.).
• Crafting - the act of a player character making items to be used in gameplay; requires ingredients.
• d10 - a ten-sided polyhedral die. Rainwall RPG uses a set of 10 d10 dice for everything; this set includes one off-colored die and may include what is called a tens die.
• Damage - the number of Life Points taken away during a successful combat attack.
• Death - the permanent state of death for a character.
• Dexterity - one of six base Traits that determines how coordinated a character is.
• Difficulty Rating - DR; how difficult a task is to complete on a scale of 1-10.
• Edged Weapons - swords, knives, axes, or other bladed weapons
• Environmental Resilience - a character's ability to resist the elements (cold, heat, etc).
• Exile - The process by which players can get rid of another player in the group.
• Experience Points - XP; points players earn by accomplishing things and completing quests; used to purchase Upgrades.
• Explosive Weapons - weapons that explode, including grenades.
• Faction - any of several groups that serve a common goal.
• Firearms - weapons of the gun type.
• Food - a type of consumable that is ingested; made by cooking.
• Fortitude - one of six base Traits that determines how tenacious a character is.
• Gamemaster - GM; the person who is responsible for running a gaming session and acting as rules arbitrator, storyteller, etc.
• Immunity - a character's ability to resist illness, disease, and infection.
• Incapacitation - a stat whereby a character is unconscious.
• Increment of Success - IoS; the number of successful dice in a Skills Check that exceed the task's Difficulty Rating.
• Influence - one of six styles of influencing other characters.
• Initiative - a roll to see the order of effects and player turn in a given situation.
• Life Points - LP; a score that determines how much damage a character can take.
• Luck - a stat that player characters can spend to get bonuses on rolls.
• Mental Resilience - a character's psychological resolve.
• Morale - a character's emotional well-being and condition.
• Non-player Character - NPC; any character not played by a player, but controlled by the GM.
• Perception - one of six base Traits that determines how good a character's senses are.
• Physical Resilience - a character's physical resolve and pain tolerance.
• Poison - a type of consumable that typically has negative effects
• Ranged Weapons - guns, bows, slingshots, or other weapons that fire a projectile. These are governed by the Archery and Firearms skills.
• Reflex - a score that determines how well a character is able to react to surprises and other things.
• Semi-archetype - one of 18 subtypes for Archetypes that gives more specialization to a character.
• Skill - a character's specific ability to do a particular thing.
• Skills Check - rolling dice to determine if use of a particular skill is successful.
• Speed - how far in feet a character can sprint using 1 action point.
• Strength - one of six base Traits that determines how strong a character is.
• Thrown Weapons - weapons that are thrown, such as rocks, boomerangs, spears, etc.
• Toxin Resistance - a character's ability to resist the effects of poisons and other toxins.
• Trait - one of six attributes that determine a character's overall intrinsic abilities.
• Unarmed Combat - using the self as a weapon to deal damage.
• Upgrading - when a player character spends XP to improve a skill or stat.
• Vitality - a character's physical energy condition.
• Weapon - items used to deal damage.
• Weaponsmithing - the crafting skill that enables one to make and upgrade weapons