Official Ilisara RPG Rules

Introduction

Welcome to Ilisara! The following guide is co-authored (and made with love) by Steve and Victoria.

Have you heard of Dungeons and Dragons before? In D&D, one person takes the role of Dungeon Master (DM). The DM is the lead storyteller and game referee. They create adventures for characters who are the stars of the story. In an adventure, you can attempt anything you can think of. Want to loot and pillage a bandit camp? Want to seduce your way into a fortress? Want to disguise yourself as an orc and sneak into the dragon’s lair? Go ahead and give it a try. Treasure, exploration, social encounters, combat — Ilisara has it all.

Ilisara began with the desire to create a classic high-fantasy world with structure for roleplay and combat. The result is the lore-rich setting located in the wiki, and the following guidelines. Every single rule is designed specifically to support roleplaying, especially our approach to creating characters.

Ilisara’s Character Creation system provides endless possibilities for character customization that quantify the RP (roleplay) elements of a character. As a player, you have the freedom to create any kind of character you can imagine to fit within Ilisara’s general high-fantasy, low-magic, medieval setting. There are no set lists of abilities to choose from when you create a character. Instead, you create your own, custom abilities to suit your character’s backstory. It is intended that you create a character, backstory, and other traits before you proceed to building the character using Ilisara’s Character Creation system.

Most of the descriptions and rules laid out in the following pages are designed for people who have already been exposed to tabletop roleplaying games like Dungeons and Dragons. If you’re a beginner, don’t worry! Visit the Beginner Tips page for an inauguration to the world of tabletop RPGs.  

How To Get Started in Ilisara

Step 1: Learn the Basic Rules

Your character is your representative in Ilisara. Through your character, you can interact with the game world via combat or noncombat encounters. Combat encounters are battles against enemies. In a combat encounter, characters and monsters take turns attacking until one side or the other is defeated. Noncombat encounters include traps, puzzles, social interactions, or other obstacles. They are resolved by Skill Challenges.

The Basic Rules provide structure for all of these and more. If you want an overview of what the game looks like in practice, or a summary of logistics about how the game is played, use the Basic Rules page. An index of rules can be found at the bottom of this page for convenient reference.

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Step 2: Create a Character

The second step to play in an Ilisara campaign is to imagine and then create a character of your own. Your character is a combination of the fantastic hero in your mind’s eye and the different game rules that describe what he or she can do.

If you are beginning a character from scratch, start on the Character Creation page. It will guide you through the character creation process. An index of rules can be found at the bottom of this page for convenient reference.

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Step 3: Play!

Once you understand the basic rules and have a character made, you can begin to play in Ilisara! DM your own adventure or join a campaign in progress. Campaigns in progress are listed under “Campaign Information” on the Home page.

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Rules Index

For quick and easy access to all of the Ilisara RPG rules, refer to this list!

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Basic Rules

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Three Golden Rules

• Rules Are Guidelines

• Dice Checks

• Always Round Down

Combat

• Rounds

• Initiative

• Fleeing and Movement

• Attacking and Defending

• Mounted Combat

• Large-scale Combat

Status Conditions

• Advantage and Disadvantage

• In-Combat Status Conditions

• Falling and Falling Damage

Using Skills

• Skill Challenges

• Stealth

• Social Interaction

Injury and Death

• Lingering Injuries

• Death and Resurrection

Rest and Recovery

 

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Character Creation

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Character Attributes

• Strength, Stamina, Dexterity, Intelligence, Charisma, Arcana

• Hit Points, Perception, Movement Speed, Defense, Attack

Character Skills

Character Passives

Character Abilities

• Basic Attack

• Tier Abilities

• Classes

• Spellcaster or Non-caster?

Character Progression (Leveling Up)

• Example Characters

Basic Equipment

• Durability

• Armor

• Weapons

• Shields

Other Equipment

• Combat Consumables

• Poisons

• Potions

• Mundane Adventuring Gear

Professions

• Artisan, Alchemist, Blacksmith, Enchanter, Tailor, and more

• Reagents

 

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Special Rules

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Cantrips

Companions

Level 10 Perks

Paragon Paths

DM Tools

Ability Compendium

All abilities created by previous players and approved by previous DMs can be found in the Ability Compendium. Use them as a reference to create your own abilities!

Stat Blocks

Monsters, mounts, and other non-player entities have hit points, defenses, attacks and more! The Stat Blocks page serves as a compendium of non-player entities that DMs can reference.

Premade Encounters

The Premade Encounters page lists ready-made parties of common enemies for the DM to tweak. They are tuned for various character levels.