Pools

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Pools are a type of derived statistic associated with characters, based on Aptitudes the character has (and, in some cases, further modified). Pools serve XXX major roles in the game:

• Giving a numerical value for the character's player to manage that represents their limits, especially in the form of Hit Points, and;
• Giving setting designers a means to modify the game engine easily for use with their setting (a role shared with skills).

General Structure of a Pool =

While all pools are different (and only Hit Points is universally expected to be present in any given game using Tarnished Tale rules), all pools have the same general attributes:

• Base Value which is best thought of as the maximum value of the pool. It is almost always expressed as a function, applying a multiplier to a base aptitude. The nature of that multiplier may be variable, and it may depend on landmark progression as a way to increase the size of the pool commensurate with the accumulation of ability by the character in question.
• Recovery Rate, which governs the rule by which the point total will grow toward the Base Value. This is expressed as a "recovery" rate because the standard assumption is that you have spent the pool down from the base rate in some way, such as by taking damage.
• Starting Value which may not be the same as the base rate, but often is. For example, some pools representing magical abilities might start at 0 when unlocked.

A pool may also have an unlock condition, which is the rule that governs whether or not a character even has access to such a pool. For example, in the Wisteria setting, the magical pools are assumed to not be locked until a certain ritual requirement is performed. Such a condition can literally be anything and is at the discretion of the setting designer.