Technical Details

The World of Io is based on 5th edition of Dungeons & Dragons. However, large parts of the world are heavily homebrewed and do not follow standard 5e rules. Mechanics that were previously used but are no longer present in the World of Io can be found in Defunct Technical Details.

## Mechanics present in all Campaigns

### Leveling

Currently, the total Character level is capped at level 20. The maximum level for a Class is 10. Certain "Legendary" characters have a Class Level cap of 20. Those individuals can teach features and abilities to other characters who have a class level of 10 in those classes. Abilities that are higher level than the Class cap are limited to the total character level. For example, a level 15 Wizard spell can be taught to a wizard with 10 levels in wizard and at least 15 total Character levels.

### Loot Drops

Bosses drop at least one guaranteed item when defeated, rolled randomly from its loot table. Additional drops are decided by flat d20 rolls. Regular loot has a DC of 15 to drop. There are "ultra rare" unique drops that only happen on a natural 20. Once an "ultra rare" item has dropped, it can never drop again from that boss (see Bounty Board section below). Loot rolls are rerollable once per roll at the cost of a use of the Lucky feat. Under certain conditions, bonus rolls for loot drops can be obtained. When stacking these bonus rolls on the same item, for each additional roll, the DC decreases by 2. This does not work for "ultra rare" items. The DC for that is always 20.

### Scanning

Once per turn, players can use a bonus action to "scan" any enemy or aspect of a battle to gather information. This includes abilities, specific initiative values, details about the various turns boss enemies can take and so on. Once a group has learned enough information about the abilities of an enemy, they can learn meta information, like HP, AC, saving throws and such.

In an earlier iteration of this mechanic, scanning was a free action that required a skill check to learn information. See more in Defunct Technical Details.

### Dreamscape

*Main article: Dreamscape*

The Dreamscape is a mental labyrinth with "roguelike" mechanics. If a player character dies in the Dreamscape, they wake up in their body and have to start over.

### Vulnerability Stacks

When a boss enemy is critically hit, instead of doubling the damage dice for the attack, the boss enemy gains a vulnerability stack. Other ways to gain vulnerability stacks include destroying weak points, defeating special adds or exploiting other weaknesses. Before doing an attack roll against an enemy with vulnerability stacks, a player character can chose to spend one stack to double the damage (not double the damage dice, but double the total damage dealt by the attack) if they hit. On hard rules (e.g. in the Nova Hellscape campaign), the vulnerability stack is lost even if the attack misses, otherwise it is only lost on a hit.

Having vulnerability stacks can have additional effects on boss enemies. E.g. a light devouring enemy in a dark cave in the Nova Hellscape campaign became a light source as long as it had at least one vulnerability stack.

### Bounty Board

The Bounty Board allows player groups to re-fight bosses from any campaign to get boss-specific loot and to gain experience. See the Loot Drops section above for more information on boss loot.

### True Damage

True Damage is a damage type that can not be reduced by any means.

### Professions

A patch to Io that allowed for material gathering actions such as fishing or mining as well as crafting actions such as blacksmithing, cooking and alchemy

### Custom Spells

The world of Io has a variety of custom spells, details on these can be found on the Custom Spells page

## Mechanics present in Goblins of Io

### Kaasma

#### Telepathy

As a result of experimentation on the goblins by an entity, the goblins are able to speak to each other mentally.

#### **Transformation**

Also as a result of experimentation, the goblins could transform into improved forms infused with the power of Kaasma. This had a numerical "meter" out of eight. For each attack or spell that dealt damage, the meter would increase by 1. Upon reaching the full charge, one goblin could transform at the start of their turn. This would give them Temporary Hit Points equal to their current health, as well as an ability unique to the character.

## Mechanics present in Hunters of Io / Spire of Euclid

### Alchemy

Using the right ingredients, a character with alchemic knowledge can roll to create a "base salve". Base salves can be either turned into a potion for free or another alchemy check can be attempted to split it. (Critically?) failing the alchemy check to split destroys the badge.

### Creature Parts

Similar to the Monster Hunter games, certain creatures have "parts" that can be specifically targeted and destroyed. They have their own HP bar that do not affect the overall HP of the monster directly, though destroying a part might deal True Damage to the creature. Destroying a part might also give the creature a Vulnerability Stack and have other effects, like disabling or weakening abilities of the creature. Destroying parts can add guaranteed or potential drops to the loot gained after defeating the creature. On top of that, once a creature has been defeated, I may be "carved" for further parts with a skill check to determine if/how many parts drop.

Monster parts can be used to craft weapons and other items.

### Monster Weapons

Also inspired by the Monster Hunter games, weapons crafted from Creature Parts give the wielder special abilities. In the latest iteration of this mechanic, they grant class levels, effectively allowing characters to multi-class and switch between secondary classes by equipping such weapons. The number of levels granted by such a weapon can be increased by upgrading/leveling it.

## Mechanics present in Nova Hellscape

### Injuries

In campaigns with hard rules, when a player character is critically hit, the DM rolls on the injury table of the enemy that dealt the critical hit. Depending on the table and the roll, the player character might suffer an injury with debilitating effects (e.g. -5 movement speed). Injuries stay on the character until they are treated. Treatment requires proficiency in the Medicine skill and at least an hour of time. A critical fail on the treatment skill check can make the injury worse. Once a day, the injured character must pass a saving throw or the injury gets worse. For each passed save, the DC increases, and if an injury worsens enough times, the effect can become permanent. Restorative magic, like the spell *Lesser Restoration*, does not cure injuries.