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Map of the Empire -
Sample Character Sheet -
Player Handout
Warhammer Fantasy World -
Racial Guide: Halfling
A Basic Primer on Dice Rolling and Combat in WHFRP -
Magic and Spellcasting
Creating a Character Concept
The Warhammer world is best described as Lord of the Rings with guns and demon hordes set in medieval Europe
All the major races of Tolkien fantasy are present. Humans cover much of the world. Halflings exist in a small enclave within The Empire. Dwarfs live in the great mountain ranges in their city-fortresses and don't get along with the Elves who inhabit two forests of the Old World and the lands across the ocean.
The Empire - Roughly analogous to the Holy Roman Empire and where the majority of the game takes place.
Bretonnia - bordering The Empire on the southwest. Analogous to France with most of the culture of Britain, including Arthurian legends. It is a land of farms, proud horses, toiling peasants, and gallant knights.
Kislev - bordering The Empire to the north and east. Analogous to Russia. A cold, hard land full of cold hard people living in the shadow of the Chaos Wastes to the north.
Estalia - bordering Bretonnia to the south. A land of rolling hills, windmills, and flamboyant diestros who fight with long rapiers and flashing capes. Analogous to the Iberian peninsula.
Tilea - bordering The Empire on the south. A long peninsula of fractious city-states and merchant princes, famed for its brutal mercenaries and more brutal politics. Analogous to Renaissance Italy.
Norsca - north of The Empire across the Sea of Claws. A cold, wild land of jagged mountains and dense forests. It's people are just as wild, and Norscan berserkers regularly raid across the sea of claws.
Araby - south across the Southern Sea. Cathay, Nippon, and Ind lie far to the east, separated from the old world by vast wastelands filled with ogres, skaven, and worse.
| Spheres of Influence | Worshippers | |
| Manann | God of the Seas, Tides, and Oceans | Fisherman, Sailors, Travelers |
| Morr | God of Death and Dreams | Bereaved, Dreamers, Amethyst Wizards |
| Ranald | God of Thievery, Trickery, and Luck | Rogues, Gamblers, the Downtrodden |
| Rhya | Goddess of Fertility of the Earth and Love | Farmers, Jade Wizards, Peasants |
| Shallya | Goddess of Healing, Mercy, and Childbirth | The Poor, the Diseased, Women |
| Sigmar | Patron Deity of the Empire and Protection | Empire Folk, Nobility, the Army |
| Taal | God of Hunters, Nature, and the Wilds | Amber Wizards, Peasants, Woodsmen |
| Ulric | God of Battle, Wolves, and Winter | Warriors, Berserkers, Middenheimers |
| Verena | Goddess of Learning and Justice | Scribes, Celestial Wizards, Magistrates |
| Spheres of Influence | Worshippers | |
| Myrmidia | Goddess of the Science of War | Soldiers, Strategists, Officers |
| Lady of the Lake | Goddess of Bretonnia | Knights and nobility of Bretonnia |
| Khaine | God of Murder | Killers, Elven Warriors |
| Spheres of Influence | |
| Khorne | God of Blood and Killing |
| Nurgle | God of Disease |
| Tzeentch | God of Chaos and Mutation |
| Slannesh | God of Pleasure |
Minor gods and gods specific to a small group of people number in the dozens.
Magic is a dangerous, mistrusted force in the Warhammer world. At best, it is viewed as a necessary evil as wizards help defend the realms of man against the hordes of chaos. At worst, superstitious villagers will burn wizards as agents of chaos.
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from Warhammer FRP — Core rules, 2nd ed, pg 16.
Halflings are a small but dexterous race who look like Human children to the untrained eye. The fact that they cannot grow beards only reinforces this impression. Although they tend to be pot-bellied, since they eat twice as often as any other race, they are capable of great stealth. When combined with their well-known skill with the sling, Halflings can prove to be surprisingly stubborn opponents. They are, however, largely a peaceful people, content to farm, eat, and smoke pipeweed. They are proud of their families and all Halflings can recite their family lineage back ten generations or more.
The origins of the Halflings are obscure. When Human tribes settled the lands that later became the Empire, Halflings were apparently already among them. Their numbers, however, were small and they played little role in the wars that led to the establishment of the Empire. Indeed, Halflings are barely mentioned in the history books until the year 1010. At that time the Emperor granted the Halflings a land of their own, as legend has it in recognition of their contributions to Imperial cuisine. Whatever the reason, the Halflings were given land near the upper reaches of the River Aver. This area has been known as the Moot ever since. The Halflings govern the Moot themselves, but it is still a part of the Empire. In fact, the Elder of the Moot is one of only fifteen Imperial Electors and thus wields some political power.
Most Halflings are homebodies. They enjoy peace and quiet and want nothing more than to be left alone to enjoy good food and a good smoke. There are, however, a small number of Halflings who find the Moot intolerably boring. When the most exciting event of the day is finding out what pie is for dessert, some folks need a change. These Halflings develop a taste for adventure and leave the Moot behind, often for roguish pursuits. Since these Halflings are the ones most often encountered in the Empire, it is perhaps no coincidence that Halflings as a whole have gotten a reputation as light-fingered sneaks.
Halflings are enthusiastic in everything, from stealing to eating to running away.
They speak fast, using lots of slang. They frequently slur words together, invent new terms and generally debase the Imperial tongue. Halflings have a habit of obsessively using catchphrases or new words they've discovered — at least, until the next one comes along. Halflings use hand gestures much as Elves do, but these are invariably too rude to discuss.
from Sigmar's Heirs, pg 10.
Halflings have been a part of the Empire for so long that their origins are forgotten. The most ancient records and legends are contradictory: Some say the Halflings migrated with Men into the lands that would become the Empire thousands of years before Sigmar's time, while others hint that they were already there. It makes little difference to the Halflings, for they know which side of the toast the jam is on: Without Humans the Halflings would not have survived in this world.
This does not mean, however, that Halflings are just passive observers riding on the Empire's coattails — far from it. They contribute — whether as archers and slingers for an Imperial army, chefs for the well-to-do, governesses for the children of the elite, or creators of the most famous gardens in the Old World, the Halflings have played key parts in its well-being. Make a Halfling made enough, and he will remind you again (and again... and again...) that theirs is the only non-human Elector in the Empire, and that they were given this honor for all the good they have done. Humans, on the other hand, just mark it down to another of Emperor Ludwig the Fat's bizarre decrees.
Halflings in the Empire, however, also have their darker side. Because of popular misconceptions about them that serve to make people think they are harmless, they can serve various factions (and sometimes several at once) well as spies, charlatans, and even assassins. Halflings with a greedy streak often play on a fool's trust to make good pickpockets and confidence men. More than a few of the criminal gangs of the Empire have their Halflings "experts."
They also serve in the military, and not just in the quartermaster corps. Halfling scout troops have proven invaluable in forested terrain, while their slingers and archers make deadly pickets.
Humans, Dwarfs, and Elves all have trouble taking Halflings seriously. How could one, when they seem so much more concerned about weeds in their garden than weighty matters of state? Among these races, the general opinion is that Halflings make good servants or even, to the Elves, favored pets. In a crisis, however, the other races often quickly learn just how important the Halflings are to the Empire.
from Warhammer FRP — Core rules, 2nd ed, pg 39.
To outsiders the Moot looks like a safe and happy land. The extent to which that's true is due to the Fieldwardens. These Halflings patrol the borders of the Moot, keeping away threats and unwanted outsiders. They are skilled skirmishers who use their intimate knowledge of the Moot to maximum advantage. They prefer to attack from ambush, using their superior skill with missile weapons to neutralize the size advantage of their foes. Since the Moot shares a border with Sylvania, the Fieldwardens have particular expertise in dealing with the living dead. More than one band of zombies has been brought down by a fusillade of slingstones from determined Fieldwardens.
Career Entries: Hunter, Militiaman, Toll Keeper
Career Exits: Bounty Hunter, Mercenary, Scout, Vagabond, Vampire Hunter
from Imperial Ogres — 2nd ed, pg 6.
Nobody knows why, but Ogres and Halflings seem to gravitate towards each other. Perhaps it's their shared love of good food, perhaps it's just something else, but whatever the reason, the two races just get on. The Moot has a sizable population of Ogres, and most village elders have one or two Ogre bodyguards. In return, the Ogre Kingdoms has a large population of Halflings, but most of these are slaves, who either cook a good meal, or are the good meal!
from Tome of Salvation — 2nd ed, pgs 126,127
Of all the races within the Empire, Halflings could be said to be the least obviously religious. Halflings prefer to celebrate the here and now rather than the heroes and deeds of the forgotten past, worshiping their Gods when circumstances require it, but not giving themselves over to piety. Most Empire folk — especially those in Stirland — would say the only thing a Halfling worships is the drink in his flagon and the food in his belly.
It is true that Halflings are a comparatively irreligious folk, their somewhat happy-go-lucky nature at odds with serious, organized religion. When practiced, the Halfling faiths are more often used as a thinly veiled excuse to feast (much as many Humans do, if truth be told — Halings are just more honest in their motivations).
The most popular Halfling deity is Esmerelda, Goddess of the Hearth and Home. Worship of Esmerelda is free of strictures and demands for worship, and her only rite of note is Pie Week, (in)famous throughout the Empire for its gluttonous excesses. During Pie Week, if at no other time of the year, Halflings can be said to be devout to the core of their being.
Although worshiped on a somewhat haphazard basis as circumstance dictates — even more so then Esmerelda — Halflings do have a few other deities. Amongst these lesser Gods is Josias, the God of Farmers, to whom prayers are spoken in both the spring and the summer, at the start and end of the agricultural season. Hyacinth, Goddess of Fertility and Childbirth, to whom many mothers and midwives offer prayers during labor; Phineas, God of Smoking, known for his ever-full pouch of smoking herbs; Gaffey, God of Building and Villages; and Quinsberry, God of Ancestry and Tradition. In more rural parts of the Empire, especially those areas close to the Moot — with the notable exception of Stirland, where Halfling Gods are treated with great disdain — some men and women give thanks to the Halfling Gods as well as their own.
Of the four major races, Halflings are the most irreverent. Setting aside the fact that Halflings have no talent for magic, the small folk are so completely unsuited to the idea of venerating anything that to even broach the topic to them would result in endless gales of laughter, perhaps followed by a proper robbery to teach the uncultured fool a good lesson. The Halflings do have their Gods, certainly, but no Halfling could be bothered to commit himself to daily and nightly prostration in the name of anyone, let alone some invisible presence that does nothing but sit around and eat and have dalliances with its siblings. When a pious mood does settle on Halflings, a festival results, and a few locals are selected to officiate the affair, being bribed heavily not to get overly drunk so that they may maintain at least the appearance of ceremony.
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Dice rolling is fairly simple. There are only 9 primary stats (ranked 1-100) and their derivatives. Most of them are pretty straightforward.
| W | Wounds. Wounds represents how much damage you can take before bad things start to
happen to
you.
Including, but not limited to: death, dismemberment, and mild chafing.
|
| WS | Weapon Skill. How good you are at melee fighting. |
| BS | Ballistic Skill. How good you are hitting things from a distance. |
| S | Strength. Self explanatory. Modifies how much damage you do in melee, how much you can lift, pull, etc. |
| T | Toughness. Contributes to your armor, also, how much abuse you can take before you stop being able to shrug it off to accomplish things. |
| Ag | Agility. A bastard combination of Dexterity and Initiative. |
| Int | Intelligence. Self explanatory. |
| WP | Willpower. Represents strength of will. Useful for magic and not going crazy when bad things happen. |
| Fel | Fellowship. How well you get along with people. |
| Per | Perception. How much you notice what is going on around you. |
| H | Health. Your current Wounds. Shows how long you have until bad things happen to you. |
| MT | Melee touch attack. Touch an enemy in combat with an open hand. Used primarily for spellcasting. |
| RT | Ranged Touch attack. Point straight at an enemy. Used primarily for spellcasting. |
| SB | Strength Bonus. The amount of damage you do in melee combat. |
| TB | Toughness Bonus. The amount of damage subtracted when you get hit. |
| M | Move. The number of 2 yrd hexes you can move with a half action. |
| Cha | Charisma? Charm? I don't even know anymore. The number of people you can affect at once with Fellowship based skills. |
| Mag | Magic. The number of dice you roll when casting a spell. You only have this stat if you have the Channeling skill. |
| IP | Insanity Points. The number of times your poor widdle mind has got broken. More about that further down. |
| Fate | Fate Points. Your best friends in the whole wide world. Expending fate points allows you to cheat death and other bad nasty situations. Regaining fate points will almost never happen, so once they're gone, they are gone. |
The vast majority of dice rolls will be percentile rolls (d100 or d%) compared against the stat. Rolling lower than or equal to the stat is a success, higher than is failure. Rolls showing doubles (11,22,33) under the stat is a Critical Success. Rolling over the stat showing doubles is a Critical Failure. A roll of 01 on any roll is a Very Good Thing that will cause the Best Possible Result. Rolling double-zod (100) on any roll is a Very Bad Thing. Try not to do that.
Rolls can also be Opposed, in cases such as Stealth vs. Perception, in which case whoever succeeds by the greater margin is the winner.
Extended rolls may be called for in cases where many people are working together over a period of time (searching a room, moving a large boulder, etc). In this case, the participating characters will need to accumulate a set number of successful rolls in the time allotted.
Skills are a (mostly) binary thing. You either know something or you don't. If you don't know a Basic Skill, you can still attempt it at half the associated stat. If you don't know an Advanced Skill, you can't even attempt it. If you happen to enter a career that would allow you to buy a skill you already have, you can purchase it again to receive a +10 bonus to rolls involving that skill. You can do this up to two times for a total of +20.
Experience is given out at the beginning of sessions for roleplaying and roleplaying only. 100 experience points buys you either 1 Primary Stat Advance in your current career, 1 Skill or Talent in your current or last career, or a Career Move.
Basic Careers listed as Career Exits, as well as your previous career, can be entered at any time for free after you collect the career's Trappings. A Basic Career not listed as a career exit can be moved into at any time after collecting the Trappings and spending 100xp.
An Advanced Career listed as an exit can be moved into once you have obtained all your current career's skills, talents, advances, and collected the Advanced Career's trappings, then spending 100xp. Note, that you do not need to spend experience to gain a mastery bonus if you already have a skill. For example, if in Student you purchased Read/Write and are attempting to finish Scholar, you need not purchase it to a level of +10, simply having Read/Write +0 is sufficient.
Combat is straightforward. Actors proceed in order of Initiative, which is 1d10+Agi. Each character is allowed One (1) full action or Two (2) half-actions in a single round. Characters begin by describing what they are attempting to the GM, and the GM will call for the appropriate dice roll. Most everything that a character will want to do is listed under Actions on the character sheet and explained in greater detail in the Handout. If your chosen action is beyond the limits of the listed actions (or beyond the limits of sanity) the GM will make something up on the spot.
Only one "Attack" or "Cast" action can be taken each round.
Attackers roll the appropriate skill (either WS for melee and BS for ranged attacks) and the reverse of the die roll (37 becomes 73) determines the hit location. Hit location determines various other effects, such what armor reduces the damage and what happens on a Critical Hit. Attackers may receive bonuses or penalties to the roll given the circumstances. For example, attacking from behind a target allows a +20 on the attack roll. Players should endeavor to claim any bonuses possible because the GM will not keep track of every possible modifier in combat.
If that roll succeeds, attackers roll damage, which is a d10 + the strength of the weapon. The defender then subtracts their Toughness Bonus (TB) and any armor they might be wearing at that hit location, the result is taken off their current Wounds. If the Wounds score drops &astbelow&ast 0, the character rolls d&percnt on the Critical Hit Table to determine what nasty thing (such as death) happens to them, then the current Wounds resets to 0.
Armor can be one of three types: light, medium, and heavy. The armor provides a bonus which is added to your Toughness Bonus for the purpose of reducing incoming damage. You may have a maximum of 5 armor points on any location. Heavier armor protects more but also restricts movement and agility. Some types of armor can be Layered — worn over a suit of lighter armor. For example, on top of your leather jerkin you could wear a coat of chainmail, and over that a metal breastplate. Some types of armor can't be layered, but instead work as part of a set, granting additional armor as long as the whole suit is intact.
Critical Success (rolling doubles on a success) as well as damage rolls of 10 (on melee, range, and spell attacks) cause "Additional Damage". This is also known as the "Kiss your ass goodbye" attack. If you roll a 10 on damage, roll your 1d10 again. Continue until you roll a number that's not a ten, and add up the resulting numbers.
Characters will use various special skills and magic during combat. All characters are allowed one free Parry per round so long as they are holding something which may be used to parry. A Parry is a WS roll made to counter an attack. If the roll succeeds, the damage of the attack is reduced by 1d10.
The Warhammer world is a nasty, dangerous place and very often things will happen that will test the limits of your character's sanity. When you have gained 6 Insanity Points, you must immediately make a Willpower Test. If you pass, nothing happens and you must make the same test again each time you gain another Insanity Point. If you fail, your Insanity Points reset to 0 and you are afflicted with a disorder. Disorders may have various effects in certain situations, but are primarily roleplaying aids. And, since experience is gained for good roleplaying, roleplaying your character's disorder may gain you additional experience.
Insanity Points can be gained in the following ways:
| Critical Hits: | Each time you take a hit that reduces your Wounds below 0, you gain one insanity point. |
| Terror: | Each time you fail a Terror test, you gain one Insanity Point. A Terror test is one that causes you to flee in terror, where a Fear test just makes you cower in fear. |
| Circumstance: | At the GM's pleasure, each time you witness something particularly sanity-straining (staring into open portals into the realm of Chaos, being tortured, trapped in a pit filled with rats, witnessing a demon sucking the life out of someone else, etc.) you must pass a Willpower test or gain one or more Insanity Points, as determined by the GM. |
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In order to cast magic spells, you must:
Magic is only available to Elf and Human characters; Halflings and Dwarves can never learn any spellcasting skills.
Roll a number of dice up to your current Magic stat. You may roll fewer dice than your maximum. If the total shown on those dice is greater than or equal to the spell's Casting Number, the spell casts successfully.
If you have the correct reagent for the spell you wish to cast (requires a Ready action during combat) you may re-roll any one die on your casting roll. The resulting roll is final. You must decide to use the reagent before casting, and each reagent is destroyed during the casting.
A wizard can construct an octogram or cast a spell inside a pre-created one. To create one, a character must spend 6 rounds drawing the circle. GM makes secret Agi test to determine how well made it is. Character can make an Int test or spend a half-action Channeling to gain this information. In a successfully created circle, you may re-roll one die of the casting roll.
Wearing Armor negatively affects your ability to cast spells. You suffer a penalty to your casting roll based on the type of armor your wearing. Light armor gives you a –3, Medium gives you –5, and Heavy gives you –10. The Armored Casting talent drops the penalty by one step.
If the total shown in your Casting Roll exceeds the spell's Casting Number by 10 or more, it activates the spell's Threshold effect. This represents a spellcaster fueling a spell with a greater amount of magical energy than is strictly necessary. The Threshold effect activates anytime the Casting Roll exceeds the Casting Number by 10 or more, so a degree of finesse is required in situations where the Threshold effect may be undesirable.
Anytime you roll three or more matching dice on a casting roll, The Great Mutator takes an interest in what you're doing and something bad happens to you. Roll d100 and ask your GM to consult the appropriate table. Arcane casters suffer Chaos Manifestations, while Divine casters suffer the Wrath of the Gods.
| Melee Touch Attack: | You must physically touch your target to cast this spell. In combat, roll MT (WS+Dex) to touch an opponent. |
| Ranged Touch Attack: | Roll RT (BS+Dex). Your attack originates in the target hex. If you fail the roll, the spell lands 1d5 hexes away in a random direction. |
| Ballistic Attack: | Roll RT (BS+Dex). Your attack casts from your hand and travels in a ballistic arc over obstacles less than 10ft high to land in the target hex. If you fail the roll, the spell lands 1d5 hexes away in a random direction. |
| Ray Attack: | Roll RT (BS+Dex). Your attack casts from your hand and travels in a straight line, striking the first solid object it encounters. If you fail the roll, roll 1d5. On 1 or 2, the ray flies 1 or 2 hexes to the target's left. On a 3, the ray flies over the target's head. On 4 or 5, the ray flies 1 or 2 hexes to the target's right. |
Rolling a 10 for damage on a spell or doubles on your attack roll incurs additional damage.
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Please reference the material on the Warhammer world and write out a character concept appropriate for the game. You don't need to settle on this character to play, just show that you can create a character that will work for this kind of game.
"I usually play thief characters." This tells me that you are primarily interested in how your character will function in combat. You won't have any fun in this game.
"I'd like to play a thief who grew up an orphan in the poor part of town." Slightly better. This tells me the character has a past, but no reason to enter the story.
"I always end up playing elf characters." This tells me you just want your character to look attractive. You won't have any fun in this game.
"I wanna play the son of a chaos god with a deathtouch hand and an important destiny." This tells me you are primarily interested in being an attention whore. You won't have any fun in this game.
"I'm interested in being a soldier who survived the last war and got out of that to be an apprentice wizard." This character has a past and a present, but is still missing quite a bit. Without any reason to do anything, that character will just sit around waiting to be railroaded. This character depends on others to bring him/her along in the story.
"I'd like to play a knight of some holy order who grew up noble in one of the large cities. He's gravitating more toward the priestly aspect of his duties as he's searching for information on the people who killed his young son." This is just perfect. It shows the character had a past (growing up noble in a large city), a present (a knight of a holy order), and a future (moving toward a priest career). It also shows his goals and what's important to him, giving him a reason to enter the story. Note that it doesn't have to be specific. It doesn't mention what large city or which holy order; those things can be determined during character creation.
You can create any sort of character that you want, with a few exceptions:
Reread your character concept and look for these things.
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