Ancerra Before

Playtest Disclaimer THIS IS PLAYTEST MATERIAL. All content within this document is subject to change.

Ancerra Before: The First Supereon introduces Telgaia, a massive supercontinent from the centuries before the Tear that brough Ancerra back into contact with the other planes of existence. Explore Telgaia and discover the living kingdoms that either fall to ruin or manage to endure the many challenges of the ancient world.

Gathandia and its sister continents are quite young, historically speaking. For dozens of centuries before its creation, the land of Ancerra was a single great supercontinent, plus a few surrounding islands and large ice caps. The supercontinent was known as Telgaia.

In the days of Telgaia, Ancerra was still completely encased in powerful demi planar wards set in place by the Avadri. As Ancerra’s solar system drifted through the endless Pale, these wards prevented the vast majority of the Pale’s ravenous eldritch denizens from touching Ancerra. By day, those who looked to the sky could see vast, unbroken stretches of clouds beyond the sun. By night, no stars were visible, and the concept of stars was completely unknown. Rather, these same expanses of clouds would be lit in eerie patterns by the light of Ancerra’s five moons.

Magic

Magic enters into Ancerra in full force when the Tear opens in the demi plane protecting the planet. Prior to the Tear, magic is exceedingly rare and quite limited in its capacity. Arcane, Divine, and Occult magic do not exist before the Tear.

Psionic magic is directly tied to a creature’s Essence, so it exists in this time period. Psions are powerful contributors to society and instrumental in protecting towns and cities from the threat of enormous monsters, so most towns of any notable size have at least one psionic caster.

Primal magic also exists in very small quantities across Telgaia. Points of raw environmental energy, such as volcanoes and the deepest hearts of jungles, have thin barriers between Ancerra and the Everwilds, allowing trace amounts of primal magic to seep through.

Magic Heroes and Creatures

The lack of magic in pre-Tear Ancerra dramatically impacts some classes and talents. The Cleric, Mage, Vessel, and Witch classes from the Core Rulebook are unplayable in this setting. You may play a Zealot, but you do not gain Divine Power. Additionally, Tinkerers and some tracks of the Rogue (such as Guild Affiliate and Conman) are extremely rare in Telgaia during this time period. They would only be found in the rare city-state or national capital large enough to have a robust economy similar to that of a nation in the second Supereon. Most cities are utilitarian, focusing only on a surplus of food and on security, so economically dependent tracks are illogical.

Furthermore, you may not learn the Student of the Arcane, Disciple of the Divine, Initiate of the Occult, or Warden of the Primal talents, even if you would normally learn them through a class talent. If you play an Oracle, for example, you must choose Adept of the Psionic instead of Warden of the Primal.

The Fiendblood lineage is incompatible with this setting as Inferno has no contact with Ancerra. Similarly, Golems are not created until after the Tear, with the exception of Psionic Golems. Undead exist in very rare circumstances, but cannot be created via any form of harnessable resurrection magic; instead, they seem to just be anomalies of nature. You may not select any options from any lineage that would give you access to magic, unless it is Psionic or Primal.

Creatures that use Arcane, Divine, and Occult magic cannot be found on Ancerra during this time period. Creatures that use Primal or Psionic magic are unaffected.

An Age of Titans

Telgaia is home to creatures of enormous proportions. Dinosaurs tower over humanoids, and the dreaded kaijan in turn cast black shadows over these terrible lizards.

The greatest struggle of humanoid creatures in the First Supereon is survival in the face of such enormous predators. The earliest groupings of humanoids were disorganized nomadic groups whose travel patterns followed prey and fled from predators. Eventually, some nomads began making permanent or semipermanent homes below ground. While enormous subterranean caverns came with their own threats, they were generally safer than the surface world. An, the first nation, existed primarily underground.

Many subterranean nations came into contact with technology far beyond anything they could have imagined, including the Remnant lineage. These ancient artifacts are the legacy of the Avadri that created Ancerra in the distant, unknowable past.

Surface-dwelling humanoids eventually found other methods of adapting to the great dangers posed by kaijan and dinosaurs. It became known that dinosaurs are vulnerable to psychic energy; psionic casters, therefore, rigorously trained to ward off dinosaurs from their settlements. Other psions went farther, learning to briefly control and domesticate dinosaurs and incorporate them into their societies. Psionic sentinels and dino wranglers both enabled their societies to set permanent roots and offered them the means to resist the terrors of the kaijan.

Economy

Telgaia operates with a different economic reality than later settings on Ancerra.

Academic and Underworld

In a civilization’s early history, the primary concern of its populace is developing a surplus of food and maintaining adequate shelter. Academic and criminal endeavors are usually simple and disorganized. Most of these nations’ entries do not mention academic or underworld occupational spheres. Unless otherwise noted, it is safe to assume that these nations have very basic academic institutions that teach standardized writing practices and basic mathematics. Such institutions will primarily be hobbies among the wealthy. Likewise, you can safely assume that a nation’s criminal element does not extend beyond petty thievery unless it is otherwise noted.

Economy Notes

Early Supereon 1 deals mostly with trade and varies greatly based on supply and demand.  Eventually, as societies form, common weights and volumes are established via Elderwind Tree seeds. These measurements persist throughout Supereons 1-4, even though seeds as a currency has mostly been depreciated.

The Elderwind tree is hearty in nearly all environments and its seeds are almost perfectly identical regardless of its age or environment. A seed (Colloquallity 1es or 1 seed) weighs 1 gram and displaces water by exactly 1ml. Thus, units of measurement of weight are 1es to 1 gram and 1Kes to 1 kg and 1d/1 drop to 1 milliliter and 1Kd to 1 liter. Using these measurements may increase immersion for your players, but don’t feel the need to add extra bookkeeping if that’s not something your table loves!

Elderwind Trees can be found as decoration in most places of lending or exchange. Amber is a pellet-sized, orange, semi-translucent piece of hardened resin made from the resin exuded from the Elderwind Tree, which produces a set amount of resin that takes a uniform amount of time to petrify. This petrification process takes about a year. Once petrified, amber can withstand an incredible amount of heat and pressure, making counterfeiting surprisingly difficult but not impossible. They weigh about the same as a grain of rice.

The depreciation from Amber relative to Silver is 10x in early SE2. The conversion chart for SE1 is simply:

Unit	a	sc
Amber (a)	1	1/10
Silver Coin (sc)	10	1

So if you use a BOP from the CRB, and it directs you to gain 2d10 sc, instead gain 2d10x10 a!

Shopping and Trading in Supereon One

In the first Supereon, trade and barter are always going to fetch better deals than trading in amber. The general formula for pricing goods with amber is:

Simple goods or trade goods

(SE2 Silver Coin Cost of good) * (1.1) * (10) = Amber Cost of Good

Goods that require specialized labor

(SE2 Silver Coin Cost of Good) * (1.35) * (10) = Amber Cost of Good

Goods that require some metal

(SE2 Silver Coin Cost of Good) * (1.5) * (10) = Amber Cost of Good

Weapons, Armor, and Shields that are mostly metal

(SE2 Silver Coin Cost of Good) * (2.5) * (10) = Amber Cost of Good

Incomes are adjusted in Supereon One to reflect less income inequality and less aristocratic hold over economies. Generally, people would have more goods than Amber, and you can assume an individual would have about 5-25% of their annual Amber income on hand and available for trade.

Remember that these are meant to be guidelines, and your table may not enjoy crunchy economic bookkeeping. Do not slow down your table’s gameplay with calculations unless you are into that kind of immersion.

	SE2 Value	SE1 Value
Average Income	1400 sc	10,000 a
Average Skilled Income	3000 sc	20,000 a
Aristocratic Income	100,000 sc	80,000 a
Peasant	800 sc	9000 a
Master/Artisan	7650 sc	60,000 a

Equipment

It is recommended to use the following equipment tables when playing in the first Supereon. These tables reflect certain weapons and armor not being fully developed yet. These weapons might also be made of bone, stone, or bronze, but are very unlikely to be made of iron unless you are playing in the very late years of the first Supereon. Consult the table below to modify your weapon accordingly.

When you gain starting equipment in Supereon One, check with your MC to determine what time period you are playing in and what materials your weapons are made of as a result. Bone and stone weapons are available at any point in Supereon One. Bronze weapons become widely available circa the 1800s BT (contemporaneously with the Kings of Tyranny campaign), and the advent of iron weapons is roughly the first century BT.

Weapon Type	Bone	Bronze	Iron	Stone
Axes	-1 to attacks and damage. Breaks on a crit fail. 1/5 the market cost.	Is damaged on a crit fail.	As written in the CRB	Breaks on a crit fail. 1/4 the market cost.
Blades (Small)	-1 to attacks and damage. Breaks on a crit fail. 1/5 the market cost.	Is damaged on a crit fail.	As written in the CRB	Breaks on a crit fail. 1/4 the market cost.
Blades (Large)	-1 to attacks and damage. Breaks on a crit fail. 1/5 the market cost.	Is damaged on a crit fail.	As written in the CRB	Breaks on a crit fail. 1/4 the market cost.
Bludgeons	-1 to attacks and damage. Breaks on a crit fail. 1/5 the market cost.	As written in the CRB	As written in the CRB	As written in the CRB
Polearms	As written in the CRB	As written in the CRB	As written in the CRB	As written in the CRB

Damaged Weapons: When you crit fail with a bronze axe or blade, it becomes "damaged." A damaged weapon gains the stats of an improvised bludgeon if it is an axe or large blade, and the stats of an improvised small blade if it is a small blade. If you crit fail with a damaged weapon, it breaks. You may make an INT check to repair your damaged weapon when Recouping or Taking a Rest. The DC is 8 + the damage die's maximum roll. On a success, you repair the weapon. On a fail, the weapon is not repaired and you cannot attempt to repair it again until the next time you Recoup or Take a Rest.

Below is a list of many weapons you might want to use on your quests. All weapon costs are in amber (a) and are not modified (this is the cost you would pay for a bronze or iron weapon).

Axes

Weapon	Damage	Attr.	APC	Range	Tags	cost
Battle Axe	1d8 sharp	STR	5-STR, min 3	Melee	Hand-and-a-Half (1d10)	875
Greataxe	2d8 sharp	STR	8-STR, min 4	Melee	Two-Handed, Unwieldy	1500
Handaxe	1d6 sharp	STR	3-STR, min 2	Melee	One-Handed, Light	500
Hatchet	1d4 sharp	STR	2	Thrown 20 ft	One-Handed	375
Throwing Axe	1d4 sharp	STR	2	Thrown 30 ft	One-Handed, Light	500
War Axe	1d8 sharp	STR	5-STR, min 3	Melee	Hand-and-a-Half (reduce APCby 1, min 2)	1000
Wood Splitter	1d8 sharp	STR	3	Melee	Two-Handed	250

Blades (Small)

Weapon	Damage	Attr.	APC	Range	Tags	cost
Improvised Small Blade	1d4 sharp	DEX	3	Melee	One-Handed, Light, Concealed	-
Dagger	1d4 sharp	DEX	2	Thrown 20 ft	One-Handed, Light, Concealed	250
Dirk	1d4 sharp	STR	2	Melee	One-Handed, Light,Concealed	300
Knife	1d4 sharp	INT	2	Thrown 20 ft	One-Handed, Light,Concealed	150
Kunai	1d2 sharp	DEX	2	Thrown 40	ft One-Handed, Light, Concealed, Special	450
Scimitar	1d6 sharp	DEX	2	Melee	One-Handed, Light	750
Shortsword	1d6 sharp	STR	2	Melee	One-Handed, Light	750

Kunai

You can tie your kunai to a cord; if you do, it loses its Thrown property but gains base reach 15 ft.

Blades (Large)

Weapon	Damage	Attr.	APC	Range	Tags	cost
Improvised Large Blade	1d8 sharp	STR	4-STR, min 3	Melee	Two-Handed	-
Bastard Sword	1d8 sharp	STR	4-STR, min 3	Melee	Hand-and-a-Half (reduce APC by 1, min 2)	1125
Broadsword	1d10 sharp	STR	5-STR, min 2	Melee	Two-Handed	1000
Claymore	1d12 sharp	STR	6-STR, min 3	Melee	Two-Handed, Unwieldy	1875
Greatsword	2d6 sharp	STR	8-STR, min 3	Melee	Two-Handed, Unwieldy	2000
Katana	1d8 sharp	DEX	5-DEX, min 3	Melee	Hand-and-a-Half (1d10)	3000
Khopesh	1d6 sharp	STR	3-STR, min 2	Melee	One-Handed	1625
Longsword	1d8 sharp	STR	5-STR, min 2	Melee	Hand-and-a-Half (1d10)	1250

Bludgeons

Weapon	Damage	Attr.	APC	Range	Tags	cost
Unarmed	1+STR blunt	STR	2	Melee	One-Handed, Light	-
Improvised Bludgeon	1d6 blunt	STR	5-STR, min 3	Melee	Hand-and-a-Half (1d8)	-
Baton	1d4 blunt	STR	2	Melee	One-Handed, Light	250
Brass Knuckles	-	-	-	Melee	One-Handed, Light, Concealed, Special	250
Cestus	1d4 blunt	STR	2	Melee	One-Handed, Light, Special	375
Club	1d6 blunt	STR	3	Melee	One-Handed	50
Flail	1d12 blunt	STR	6-STR, min 3	Melee	Two-Handed	875
Hammer	1d6 blunt	STR	4-STR, min 2	Melee	One-Handed	75
Mace	1d6 blunt	STR	4-STR, min 2	Melee	Hand-and-a-Half (1d8)	625
Maul	2d6 blunt	STR	6-STR, min 3	Melee	Two-Handed, Unwieldy	1250
Morningstar	1d8 physical	STR	5-STR, min 3	Melee	Hand-and-a-Half (reduce APC by 1, min 2)	1000
Nunchucks	1d4 blunt	COR	12-COR, min 2	Melee	One-Handed, Light	750
Quarterstaff	1d4 blunt	DEX	3	Melee	Hand-and-a-Half (reduce APC by 1, min 2)	125
Tetsubo	1d8 blunt	STR	4-STR, min 2	Melee	One-Handed	1250
Tonfa	1d4 blunt	DEX	2	Melee	One-Handed, Light	125
Warhammer	1d10 blunt	STR	6-STR, min 3	Melee	Hand-and-a-Half (1d12),Unwieldy	875

Brass Knuckles

Increase your unarmed damage die size by 1. (E.g., if your unarmed damage deals 1d6, it now deals 1d8.) This cannot exceed 1d12. If you did not have an unarmed damage die, it becomes 1d4.

Cestus

While wearing a cestus, gain +1 AR.

Polearms

Weapon	Damage	Attr.	APC	Range	Tags	cost
Glaive	1d8 physical	STR	6-STR, min 2	Reach 10 ft	Two-Handed	1375
Glaive Guisarme	1d8 sharp	STR	5-STR, min 3	Reach 10 ft	Two-Handed, Special	1625
Javelin	1d6 sharp	STR	2	Thrown 60 ft	One-Handed, Light	375
Lance	1d12 sharp	STR	6-STR, min 4	Reach 10 ft	Two-Handed, Unwieldy,Special	625
Pike	1d6 physical	STR	3	Reach 15 ft	Two-Handed	875
Spear	1d6 physical	STR	3	Thrown 20 ft	Hand-and-a-Half (reduce APCby 1, min 2)	250

Glaive Guisarme

When you make an attack against a mounted target, you may spend 2 additional AP to also make a separate attack against the creature’s FORT. On a hit, then the target is dismounted and falls Prone.

Lance

A lance is a two-handed weapon; however, if you are riding a mount, then a lance is a one-handed weapon.

Ranged

Note: In the early days of the first Supereon, bows did not exist. Depending on what time period you are playing in, consider restricting bows. In order from earliest to latest invention, heroes might access the shortbow, recurve bow, longbow, then standing longbow.

Weapon	Damage	Attr.	APC	Range	Tags	cost
Improvised Thrown	1d4 blunt	STR	3	Thrown 20 ft	One-Handed	-
Blowgun	1d4 sharp	DEX	2	Ranged 120 ft	Two-Handed, Light, Concealed, Ammunition	250
Dart	1d2 sharp	DEX	2	Ranged 60 ft	One-Handed, Light, Concealed	125
Longbow	1d10 sharp	DEX	6-STR, min 2	Ranged 900 ft	Two-Handed, Ammunition	2250
Recurve Bow	1d6 sharp	DEX	2	Ranged 200 ft	Two-Handed, Ammunition	3000
Shortbow	1d4 sharp	DEX	2	Ranged 200 ft	Two-Handed, Ammunition	1250
Sling	1d4 blunt	DEX	2	Ranged 120 ft	One-Handed, Light, Concealed, Ammunition	125
Standing Longbow	1d12 sharp	DEX	8-STR, min 3	Ranged 1000 ft	Two-Handed, Ammunition, Unwieldy	3000
War Sling	1d6 blunt	DEX	2	Ranged 200 ft	One-Handed, Light, Ammunition	250

Miscellaneous

Weapon	Damage	Attr.	APC	Range	Tags	cost
Boomerang	1d6 blunt	DEX	2	Thrown 60 ft	One-Handed, Special	375
Cat-o-Nines	3d2 sharp	DEX	6-DEX, min 3	Melee	One-Handed, Special	1000
Net	-	DEX	4-STR, min 3	Ranged 10 ft	Two-Handed, Special	625
Pickaxe	1d8 physical	STR	5-STR, min 3	Melee	Hand-and-a-Half (1d10)	375
Trident	1d6 sharp	DEX	4-DEX, min 2	Thrown 20 ft	Hand-and-a-Half (1d8)	1250
Whip	1d4 sharp	DEX	5-DEX, min 2	Reach 10 ft	One-Handed, Light, Special	625

Boomerang

When you throw a boomerang, it comes back to you at the start of your next turn unless it is knocked to the ground or physically blocked. If it hits an enemy, it still comes back to you.

Cat-O-Nines

If you crit with a Cat-o-Nines, inflict Bleeding (1d4) on the target creature.

Net

On a hit, the target takes no damage, but is Restrained (escape DC 15). Nets have 15 HP.

Whip

When you attack with your whip, if you hit you can spend 2 additional AP to make a second attack against a target's REF: on a hit, if the target is Larger or smaller, it falls prone.

Light Armor

Armor	AR	REF	FOR	ANT	LOG	WILL	STR min	DEX max	Speed	Resist	Cost
Cuirass (Leather)	12	+1	+1	-	-	-	-	-	-	Blunt 2	2500
Gambeson	10	+1	+1	-	-	-	-	-	-	Cold 1, Blunt 1	300
Hide	11	-	+1	-	-	-	-	-	-	Cold 3	625
Leather	11	+1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Blunt 1	425

Medium Armor

Armor	AR	REF	FOR	ANT	LOG	WILL	STR min	DEX max	Speed	Resist	Cost
Breastplate (bronze)*	13	-	-	-	-	-	2	8	-	Sharp 3	8750
Brigandine	12	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Sharp 2	1000
Cuirass (bronze)*	12	+1	+1	-	-	-	1	-	-	Sharp 2	12,500
Half Plate (bronze)*	14	-	-	-	-	-	2	8	-5 ft	Sharp 3	20,000
Leather-and-Bronze*	13	+1	+1	+1	-	-	-	-	-	Sharp 2	5000

Bronze: Bronze armor is softer than iron armor. It existed long before iron armor and is much more common than iron armor even when iron armor is developed late in the first Supereon. When wearing bronze armor, if another creature crits against you with physical damage, your AR goes down by 1. If this would reduce your AR to 10, then your armor is destroyed beyond repair. You may make an INT check to repair your damaged armor when Taking a Rest. The DC is the armor's normal AR. On a success, your AR goes back up by 1, unless this would cause it to exceed its normal AR. On a fail, the armor is not repaired and you cannot attempt to repair it again until the next time you Take a Rest.

Heavy Armor

Armor	AR	REF	FOR	ANT	LOG	WILL	STR min	DEX max	Speed	Resist	Cost
Banded Mail (bronze)*	14	-1	-	-	-	-	2	8	-5 ft	Physical 3	1125
Bronze Plate (Field)*	15	-1	-	-	-	-	3	6	-5 ft	Physical 3	30,000
Bronze Plate (Full)*	15	-2	-	+1	+1	+3	4	4	-10 ft	Physical 3	37,500

Shields

Armor	AR	REF	FOR	ANT	LOG	WILL	STR min	DEX max	Speed	Resist	Cost
Buckler	-	+2	-	+2	-	-	-	-	-	Physical 1	250
Heater Shield	+1	+1	-	+1	-	-	-	-	-	Physical 2	1250
Kite Shield	+2	+1	+1	+1	-	-	-	-	-	Physical 2	1500
Tower Shield*	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	10	-5 ft	-	2500

Technology Levels

Throughout broad strokes of Telgaia’s history, the technology level of most nations was roughly comparable to that of real-world Ancient Greece or Babylonia. Humanoids quickly figured out how to build large buildings and monuments, and iron weapons were far less common than bronze ones due to the latter metal’s abundance and pliability.

If you are playing in early history, consider making technology even more primitive: agricultural canals might be revolutionary. Conversely, if you are playing just a few years before the Tear, then feats of engineering such as cross-national aqueducts may be more commonplace.

Forward Compatible Lineages: The lineages introduced in this setting still exist in future settings. However, Kosavran and Dwellvur are much less common, and the elf and dwarf sublineages are disproportionately small compared to their other sublineages.

Forward Compatible BOPs: The BOPs introduced in this setting are mostly forward-compatible. The Augur and Godking are specific to this setting, unless your MC makes an exception.

Forward Compatible Class Tracks. Your MC may allow these tracks in other settings. Be aware that some of these talents are specifically designed to interact with dinosaurs. Others are intended to counteract creatures that have DT or are dramatically larger in scale than you might encounter in other supereons, so not all talents will be particularly relevant in other settings.

Full List of Supereon 1 Creatures

Click here.