Style Guide

General

• pronouns are always they / them, unless referring to a specific character
• Oxford commas
• new keywords should be bolded
• use numeric form of numbers for damage, dice, absorption, attributes, ideals, essence crystals and gear / enchantment point costs. Everything else uses written form of numbers
• every active description and class feature begins with a line of flavor text describing the effect in-universe
• names should be simple and evocative. Namespace conflicts only matter with similar objects (within a class or race, within all affixes, within talents)

Actives

• most spells have a range of 30 feet; remember that offensive spells can be cast at long range with disadvantage
• clearly state that the acting party is dealing damage, rather
• line of sight is implicit in rules, and does not require literal vision. Do not write "a creature you can see" unless there's strong, specific flavor reasons for it
• "[Once per rest] As a TYPE action [at the cost of COST essence], you may ACTION"
• range should be a number where possible, with the meaning clarified in the rules text

Passives

• Use second person: "Your attacks..."
• Use "Whenever" if a trigger recurs, "When" for a one time event
• omit flavor from affixes and talents where possible
• talents are named after an adjective which could describe a person

Missable keywords

• shrouded
• obscured, invisible
• partial cover, full cover

Common phrases

• "sheds bright light in a X foot radius, and dim light for another X feet beyond that."
• "Objects in dim light are no longer obscured, and objects in darkness are now merely obscured, rather than invisible."
• "Make an opposed skill check, pitting your SKILL against your opponent's SKILL."
• "Make a ATTRIBUTE attack against a creature of your choice within range. If you hit, apply..."
• "cannot spend movement"
• "travelling through [EFFECT] is [half/twice] as effective as usual"
• "Acts X times per round" (for boss monsters)
• "Whenever you land a critical hit..."
• "Whenever you hit a creature with a TYPE attack..."
• "specified"
• "As usual, you can’t increase your attributes above +5 in this way."
• "move into an adjacent empty tile without provoking an attack of opportunity or spending movement."
• "If you have not yet spend movement on your turn, OPTION. If you do so, you may not spend movement until the start of your next turn."
• "Whenever you apply a boon to another creature, EFFECT. You only gain this benefit the first time each round that this triggers.
• "Whenever a creature moves into a tile you are threatening while already threatened by you, EFFECT."

Common mistakes

• training in a skill or defense, not proficiency
• aptitude bonus, not proficiency bonus
• "have advantage", not "have an advantage"
• "your critical hit threshold is lowered once", not "your critical hit range is increased by one"
• "Instant", not "Instantaneous"
• "apply [CONDITION / AFFLICTION]" or "apply X stacks of [CONDITION / AFFLICTION]", not "CONDITION until..." or "apply AFFLICTION X" unless needed to produce a different effect
• start of turn, not beginning of turn
• "As usual" or "Like normal", not "As normal"
• "frightened", not "afraid"
• taunted and frightened conditions need both subject and object
• check for all double spaces
• "electric" and "corrosive" damage, not "lightning", "electricity" or "corrosion"