Skald Domain

Skald Domain characters move hearts with story, song, and command. They keep the memory of heroes, rally weary friends, and shame foes with a well-aimed verse. A Skald might be a hall poet with a kenning for every occasion, a drummer who keeps the oars in rhythm, or a young leader whose voice carries over the noise of battle.

Tier 1 Base Card: Skald Initiate

Skald Aspect: Choose Poise (stage presence, timing, a dancer’s grace) or Tact (wit, wordplay, reading the room). This Aspect powers your Skald Features.

Core Feature: Inspiring Verse

Action Load: 1

Speak, sing, or play. Choose up to two allies who can hear you: each either reduces 1 Stress or gains Advantage on their next roll this scene. An ally can benefit from Inspiring Verse only once per scene.

Choose two Domain Feature Cards from Tier 1.

Requirements to Advance to Tier 2 (complete 3):

• Perform for a crowd that didn’t want to listen
• Rally an ally who was about to give up
• Learn an old story or song from someone who remembers it
• Make a foe lose heart without striking it
• Compose a verse about the party’s deeds and perform it
• Any one Shared Milestone (see Domains)

Tier 1 Feature Cards

Battle Chant (Team Action – Active)

Action Load: 1

Start a rhythm. Until the start of your next turn, allies within 30 feet who can hear you gain Advantage on their first attack roll.

Mocking Verse (Combat – Active)

Action Load: 1

One enemy within 60 feet who can hear you rolls Willpower Resistance against your Skald Aspect roll. On a failure it marks 1 Stress and has Disadvantage on its next attack. On a success it only glares.

Lore-Keeper (Exploration – Passive)

Action Load: — (Passive)

You know old tales of places, people, and legends. Once per scene, ask the GM one question about a place, family, monster, or relic in front of you; the GM answers truthfully with what the old stories say (which may be half-wrong). You roll recall checks about history and legends with Advantage.

Captivate (Roleplay – Active)

Action Load: 1 (outside combat: once per scene)

Hold a crowd’s attention. Roll your Skald Aspect; everyone who wants to resist rolls Willpower Resistance against it. Those who fail watch only you for as long as you keep performing (up to a few minutes) and have Disadvantage to notice anything else—perfect cover for a friend’s sneaking.

⚡ Steady Voice (Team Action – Reactive)

Action Load: 1

When an ally who can hear you fails a roll against fear, morale, or becoming Frightened, they may reroll it with Advantage.

Kenning (Roleplay – Passive)

Action Load: — (Passive)

Give a creature or place a kenning (a poetic name such as Ring-Breaker or the Grey Wolf’s Hall). People who hear it remember it. You gain Advantage on social rolls with anyone who has accepted the kenning you gave them.

Tier 2 Base Card: Skald Adept

Core Feature: Saga

After a fight, a journey, or a great deed, you may spend a Quick Rest telling the tale. Each ally who took part gains one Saga token (one at a time). A Saga token can be spent before any roll to gain Advantage; unspent tokens fade at the end of the next session.

Choose two Domain Feature Cards from Tier 2.

Requirements to Advance to Tier 3 (complete 4):

• Win a contest of verse, wit, or song
• Lead frightened people to safety by voice alone
• Earn a patron, hall, or ship that welcomes your songs
• Perform at a great feast or gathering
• Hear others sing a song you made
• Any one Shared Milestone

Tier 2 Feature Cards

Command (Team Action – Active)

Action Load: 1

Shout an order to one ally who can hear you. They may immediately move up to their speed or make one attack, paying for it with their own Action Load (if they can afford it).

Song of Rest (Team Action – Passive)

Action Load: — (Passive)

During a Quick Rest or Full Rest where you play or tell stories, each ally recovers 1 extra Stress.

Fame (Roleplay – Passive)

Action Load: — (Passive)

People have heard your songs. In any settlement where your name might travel, the GM rolls 1d4: on a 3–4 someone recognizes you and offers a meal, a bed, or a fair hearing. You may use your Skald Aspect instead of the usual Aspect when persuading someone who knows your work.

Thunderous Voice (Combat – Active)

Action Load: 2

Bellow a word of power. Creatures in a 15-foot cone roll Fortitude Resistance against your Skald Aspect roll. On a failure they take 1d8 Thunder damage and are pushed 10 feet; on a success, half damage and no push.

Wayfarer’s Song (Exploration – Passive)

Action Load: — (Passive)

While you lead the singing on the road, the party takes no Stress from long marches, boredom, or bad weather, and rolls against travel Exhaustion with Advantage.

⚡ Stinging Aside (Combat – Reactive)

Action Load: 1

When a creature within your reach moves away from you, you may make a melee or ranged weapon attack against it (normal attack roll). On a hit, it also marks 1 Stress.

Tier 3 Base Card: Skald Expert

Core Feature: Voice of Heroes

Inspiring Verse can affect all allies who hear you, and once per scene it costs 0 Action Load.

Choose three Domain Feature Cards from Tier 3.

Requirements to Advance to Tier 4 (complete 4):

• Turn a battle or a council with a single speech
• Compose a great saga about a hero (it may be you)
• End a feud through song, story, or judgment
• Train a student who performs in your style
• Perform before a ruler and keep their favor
• Any one Shared Milestone

Tier 3 Feature Cards

War Cry (Combat – Active)

Action Load: 2

Every enemy within 30 feet who can hear you rolls Willpower Resistance against your Skald Aspect roll. Each one that fails marks 1 Stress and is Frightened of you until the end of its next turn.

Rallying Song (Team Action – Active)

Action Load: 2 (once per Quick Rest)

Allies within 30 feet who can hear you each recover 1 HP. An ally at 0 HP who has not yet chosen a death option is stabilized and wakes at 1 HP.

Truthsinger (Roleplay – Active)

Action Load: 1 (outside combat: once per scene)

Sing a question to one listener. They roll Willpower Resistance against your Skald Aspect roll. On a failure they must answer truthfully or stay silent (and everyone notices the silence).

Echoes of Old (Exploration – Active)

Action Load: — (out of combat; takes 10 minutes)

Sing to a place. The GM tells you one true memory of it: an important event, who built it, or what was buried there. Once per place.

Courage (Team Action – Passive)

Action Load: — (Passive)

Allies within 30 feet of you who can hear you roll against becoming Frightened or Distracted with Advantage, and they may end either condition at the start of their turn by marking 1 Stress.

Tier 4 Base Card: Skald Master

Core Feature: Living Legend

Your songs are sung across the land. Once per session, declare that a story you have told about the party comes true in a small way (a gate guard has heard of you, a rumored ford exists, a rival hesitates). The GM makes it fit.

Choose three Domain Feature Cards from Tier 4.

Tier 4 Feature Cards

Song of Ages (Team Action – Active)

Action Load: 3 (once per scene)

Until the start of your next turn, every ally who can hear you gains Advantage on all of their rolls.

Shatter Spirit (Combat – Active)

Action Load: 3

Speak a verse of doom to one enemy within 60 feet. It rolls Willpower Resistance against your Skald Aspect roll with Disadvantage if it is already Frightened or Distracted. On a failure it loses its will to fight: it flees, surrenders, or stops attacking for the rest of the scene unless it is attacked. On a success it marks 2 Stress and is Distracted. Bosses and the mindless roll with Advantage.

King’s Ear (Roleplay – Passive)

Action Load: — (Passive)

Rulers and chiefs make time to hear you. Once per adventure, you may request an audience with a ruler and receive it within a day. When you advise them, your social rolls with them gain Advantage.

Remembered (Exploration – Passive)

Action Load: — (Passive)

Wherever you go, someone knows your songs. Once per session, the GM introduces a friendly NPC who recognizes you and helps with one of: shelter, directions, a local secret, or a hiding place.

⚡ Last Verse (Team Action – Reactive)

Action Load: 2 (once per scene)

When an ally within 30 feet who can hear you drops to 0 HP, your song pulls them back: they stay at 1 HP and skip the death options. You mark 1 Stress.

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