Keyword Pricing

How each keyword’s Strain cost is set. The costs themselves live in the Strain column of Keywords. If a cost there looks wrong, check it against this method first, then change either the cost or the method.

An ability’s total cost is still: keyword cost(s) + Awareness substate + Duration (see Core Resolution).

Step 1: Base Cost

Pick the tier for the strongest thing the keyword does.

Base	Tier	What it does	Examples
1	Nudge	Moves you, changes Stride, gives a one-time +1 die, or is out-of-combat utility	Move, Hastened, Slowed, Misdirected, Dodge, Clear, Rejuvenate, Communication
2	Shape	An ongoing plus or minus to dice, Rank, Strain, or Armor; a +1 success; or reveals information	Dampened, Enabled, Fear, Parry, Slip, Crushed, Observed, Tracked, Rebounded, Consolidated
3	Deny / Harm	Removes an option, causes or heals an Injury, removes a keyword, hides you, or moves another creature	Restrained, Silenced, Gated, Obscured, Heal, Dispel, Negating, Displace, Banished
4	Rule-breaker	Adds successes equal to Rank or more, ignores a core rule (Armor, obstacles, solid matter), grants or creates something (a keyword, a construct, a weapon), or destroys things	Pierced, Biding, Foresight, Teleport, Phase, Portal, Morphed, Construct, Weapon/Armor [polarity], Disintegrated
5	Shutdown	Takes away a creature’s ability to act or choose	Paralyzed, Overwritten

Flat successes of Rank or more are rule-breakers because they skip the 7-dice cap. Every Texture averages 1 success per die, so each flat success is worth a die the cap can’t stop. A single +1 success (Rebounded) stays at Shape.

Step 2: Modifiers

Modifier	Change	Why
Injury T or C, or the effect itself inflicts an Injury	+1	It fills a slot on the lethal track
Escalator	+1	It keeps working without another roll. Skip this when the escalation is only a countdown to the main effect
Requirement or drawback	-1	Needs a shield, needs a polarity present, can’t interact with the world, or backfires on a failure

Minimum cost is 0.

Worked Examples

• Pinned: Deny 3, Injury T +1 = 4
• Terminal: Harm 3, Injury T +1, Escalator +1 = 5
• Counter: Harm 3, inflicts an Injury +1, backfires on a failure -1 = 3
• Block: Rule-breaker 4 (Realm + Rank successes), requires a shield -1 = 3
• Step [polarity]: Rule-breaker 4 (teleport), needs the polarity present -1 = 3

Special Cases

• Stack-spending keywords cost 0 Strain. The stacks are the price, and each keyword already names how many it needs. Awareness and Duration still cost Strain as normal. Keywords that trigger off a stack threshold are treated the same way.
• Trap costs 0. The keyword it carries pays its own cost.
• Passive keywords have no Strain cost (N/A). They’re paid for with experiences.
• Cost doesn’t change with Rank. A Rank 4 keyword costs the same Strain as a Rank 1 keyword. Rank comes from experiences, and that’s the payoff for investing them.
• A blank Injury field is priced as F. If it’s later set to T or C, add 1.

Judgment Calls

These didn’t fall cleanly out of the method.

Keyword	Cost	Call
Biding	4	Injury changed from T to F. Biding affects you, so filling an Injury slot made no sense.
Petrifying	5	The method gives 6 (Shutdown + Choice), but the paralysis is delayed by Realm rounds, so it shouldn’t cost more than Paralyzed.
Hidden	4	Same base as Obscured (3), +1 because it also adds a die against unaware targets.
Illusion	4	Effect text is cut off (“Target”). Priced from its example (an illusory world). Re-price once the effect is written.
Golem [polarity]	4	Same as Construct even though it adds +1 die. Bump to 5 if Golems prove stronger in play.
Snoozing	0	Priced as a stack keyword, but it doesn’t spend the stacks. As written, a creature that stays over the threshold could fall asleep every round.

Anchor Check

Costs that existed before this method, and what the method gives:

Keyword	Before	Method
Dampened	2	2
Rebounded	2	2
Consolidated	2	2
Pierced	4	4
Construct	4	4
Paralyzed	5	5
Trap	0	0
Biding	4	4 (after the Injury fix)
Pinned	1	4

Strain Budget Check

A Realm 1 character with 2 experiences in Strain has 20 Strain. A Deny or Harm keyword with an Injury (4), on a Projectile (+1) with an Instant duration (+0), costs 5, plus 1 or 2 for invoking Motive or Identity. That’s roughly 3 abilities per frame. Weapons apply their keywords for free, so abilities are the big moves.