Mettle
Also called: Mettle Pool
Definition: A character's reserve of focus, grit, and desperate will. Pool size equals (SAVVY + GRIT) ÷ 2, rounded up. Spent on Reactions, rerolls, and Desperation. Refreshes fully at the start of each session, and partially through the Ember, a Full Rest, or a Critical Success.
Mettle is what you spend when normal effort isn’t enough: when you need to dodge a bullet you didn’t see coming, push through a failed fear check, or take a hit meant for your friend. It represents the deep reserves of focus and stubborn endurance that you can call upon in crisis.
Mettle Pool = (SAVVY + GRIT) ÷ 2, rounded up.
SAVVY contributes your situational awareness: noticing threats and opportunities. GRIT contributes your stubborn endurance: refusing to go down.
Refresh:
- Start of Session: Full refresh.
- The Ember: +2 Mettle when you Spark a Memory this way.
- Camp (Full Rest): +1 if you eat and sleep.
- Critical Success: May regain 1 Mettle.
- Strain ≥ ½ Cap (Fatigued or worse): No refresh: exhaustion blocks the Mettle restoration.
Spending:
| Action | Cost | Effect | Timing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dive | 1 | Use Take Cover outside your turn | Before a Ranged attack rolls |
| Dodge | 1 | Add your QUICK rank to Defense | Before a Melee attack rolls |
| Parry | 1 | Add your Melee Skill rank to Defense | Before a Melee attack rolls |
| Steel | 1 | Reroll a failed Willpower/Fear check | Immediately after failing |
| Intercept | 1 | Take a hit meant for an adjacent ally | When ally is hit, before damage |
| Push | 1 | Reroll one die in your pool | After rolling; must keep new result |
| Desperation | 2 | Enable Exploding 8s for this roll | Before rolling |
Reaction Limit: Only one Reaction (Dive, Dodge, Parry, Intercept) between your turns. Push, Steel, and Desperation are not Reactions and don’t count against this limit.
Mettle is the Frontier’s currency of agency: the system’s answer to “the dice don’t always have to win.”