Saturday, September 18, 2021

13th Age Official Variant Rules Collection


Over the years, 13th Age has accumulated variant rules that the designers have shared with us. This page attempts to collect the variant rules in one place, summarizing each rule and providing a reference to the original source.

  • Alternative Ability Score Array—Use this ability score array, which is better than the point-buy would allow, but on the bottom end: 17, 15, 14, 13, 12, 10. Source: 13th Age Glorantha p. 24.
  • Force Salvo—Replace the adventurer tier feat with one that requires the wizard target each enemy only once. There are some other options offered as well. Source: 13th Age FAQ.
  • Grabbed—When you're grabbed, the monster deals automatic damage to you as a free action equal to half the original damage of the grab attack. If you try to make a ranged attack while grabbed, you're subject to an opportunity attack. Source: 13th Age Glorantha p. 66.
  • Icon advantages—When rolling icon relationships, treat both 5's and 6's as advantages. When a you use an icon advantage, roll a d20. On a 1–5, the advantage comes with a complication (the equivalent of a 5 in the core rulebook). Source: 13th Age Quick Start Rules p. 11.
  • Incremental Advance—You may only take one new power or spell as an incremental advance per level. Source: 13th Age Glorantha p. 74.
  • Ranger animal companion—A ranger with the Animal Companion talent uses the updated rules for the druid animal companion (e.g., you can cast spells on your animal companion). Source: 13 True Ways p. 41.
  • Drunken Style Monk—This is a monk fighting style that didn't make it into 13 True Ways, but was included in the playtests. It was further refined and included in a Sage Advice article.