Survivors

Survivors are a type of human-like monster that exists in the world of Kingdom Death. Survivors have many of the same characteristics as humans, and are used to represent the player characters during games of Kingdom Death: *Monster*.

## Lore

Survivors are ubiquitous to the world of Kingdom Death, and can be found occupying various biomes from the Plain of Faces, to the Inverted Mountain, to the Rust Ocean and beyond. In these various biomes, survivors typically occupy the bottom rung of the food web. They are prey for essentially all other monsters found in the nightmarish world, however, survivors are adaptable, and by working together they are able to build settlements and weapons that they can use to hunt and kill apex predators and even Entities.

It is unknown if survivors originated in Kingdom Death, or if they arrived through other means. Survivors, like humans, can reproduce naturally to produce new offspring, but they are also known to be produced through more unnatural means, such as being written into existence by The Scribe. These survivors enter the world with black ink around their eyes that distinguishes them from naturally born survivors. Survivors are also known to be able to access The Dreaming, a "world-in-between-worlds" that can act as a passageway between different realms (as demonstrated by Rayanor), so it is possible that survivors originate from a world outside of Kingdom Death.

As previously mentioned, survivors are highly adaptable and can obtain superhuman abilities. This can be seen in saviors who access the power of the Ethereal Dreamer and the Dreaming to reach a potential higher than that of typical survivors. White Speakers, who use the power of stories and The Other to conduct their strange rituals. This adaptability also manifest in more mundane survivors as demonstrated by fighting arts, abilities, and attributes. In the opposite vein, survivors are also vulnerable to diseases, disorders, and impairments.

### Notable Survivor Cultures

* The survivors of Deadrock
* the survivors of the Great City
* The White Speakers
* The Twilight Knights
* The Black Knights

### Notable Survivors

* Allister
* Zachary
* Erza
* Lucy
* Old Joe
* Rachel
* Aya
* Paul
* Luck
* Rayanor
* Nico
* Koshka
* Kisya
* Fade
* Snow
* Wendy
* Percival
* Grimmory
* Lune

## Rules

In Kingdom Death: *Monster* players utilize a survivor miniature as their playable character. Each survivor has a record sheet that keeps track of essential information players will need to hunt, fight, and interact with the settlement. Players should use a pencil or other erasable means to edit these sheets, as they will be altered often.

### Survivor Miniatures

Players use miniatures to represent their survivors on the hunt and showdown boards. The Kingdom Death: *Monster* Core Game includes 4 miniatures that represent the survivors in their most primitive state, but more can be made from the components found in expansions and armor kit sets.

Survivors change as they progress over lantern years, gaining gear and losing limbs. Players are encouraged to build new miniatures of their survivors by combining pieces from different armor sets to create a miniature that represents their survivor's favorite gear and personal story. However, survivor miniatures do not need to accurately reflect the gear a player uses in the game. Survivor miniatures use 30mm bases.

### Name

Naming a survivor gives them substance and a connection to a player.

### Survival

Survival is the desperate desire to cling to life. Survival is gained and lost throughout the campaign, and may be spent to perform extraordinary feats and change a survivor's fate. When a player names a survivor, the survivor gains +1 survival. For a brand new survivor, a player should add a "1" in the survival box of the survivor record sheet, when the player names the survivor.

As the amount of survival increases and decreases. update the survival box on your record sheet.

Survival may be spent to perform survival actions such as dodge, dash, and encourage. Survivors start a campaign with access to the dodge survival action, and others must be unlocked through innovations or by completing gameplay criteria. As these become available in a player's settlement, they should fill in the appropriate box on current and new survivor record sheets.

### Survival Limit

Survival Limit is the maximum amount of survival any survivor may have. Survival Limit is recorded on the settlement record sheet and applies to all survivors. Innovations and events will raise the settlement's survival limit.

At the start of a campaign, the Survival Limit is 1. When the settlement innovates Language, the Survival Limit is increased by one to 2. Any additional survival gained over the Survival Limit is lost.

### Survivor Attributes

Survivor attributes are used in the course of fighting monsters. They include: movement, accuracy, strength, evasion, luck, and speed. A survivor may gain permanent increases and decreases to their attributes. Update the values in the appropriate box on the record sheet to reflect these changes. Unless otherwise notes, at the beginning of the campaign a survivor will start with 0 in all of their attributes, except movement where survivors will have a value of 5.

If a survivor gains temporary modifiers, place tokens on the record sheet instead of changing the sheet. Remove these tokens during step 2 of the Settlement Phase.

### Survivor Locations

Hit locations are areas of the survivor's body that can wear armor and suffer damage. The hit locations are: head  , arms  , body , waist , and legs .
Hit locations have a space for armor points (indicated by a shield icon). wWithout armor, hit locations have 0 armor points. Hitm locations have a light injury level (indicated by a light-lined unfilled box) and a heavy injury level (indicated by a heavier-lined unfilled box). The head is an exception. Since the head is more fragile and can withstand less injury, it only has a heavy injury level.

Whenever players fill heavy injury levels on their survivor record sheet, their survivor is knocked down, as noted below each hit location name.

#### Brain

The Brain is a survivor location different from hit locations, and represents a survivor's mental fitness. The Brain can only be damaged by brain damage. Since the mind is fragile, there is only one injury level for the Brain (indicated by the light-lined unfilled box).

#### Insanity

Insanity protects the Brain location the same way that armor protects hit locations. The more insane a survivor is, the less likely they are to be shaken by the horrors the befall them. Insanity points are gained and lost throughout the campaign. Having 3+ insanity makes a survivor insane, which can stand in the way of making rational decisions during some events. As the amount of insanity increases and decreases, update the insanity box on your record sheet.

### Hunt Experience

Survivors gain Hunt Experience during the aftermath of a victorious showdown. When a survivor gains Hunt XP, update their record sheet by filling in the next unfilled Hunt XP box.

Some hunt XP levels have milestones (indicated by a heavy-lined box) that trigger the Age story event. The number of milestones filled indicates which Age rules to apply. When the final hunt XP box is filled, the survivor is too old to hun, and must retire.

### Weapon Proficiency

When a survivor reaches the first Hunt XP milestone, the Age story event grants them weapon proficiency. They player may select a weapon type and start gaining weapon proficiency levels with this weapon. A weapon's type is a keyword on the gear card below the name. The following weapons may be selected as a weapon proficiency: axe, bow, club, dagger, fist & tooth, grand weapon, katana, katar, scythe, shield, spear, sword, and whip.

#### Earning Weapon Proficiency Levels

During a showdown, a survivor must wound a monster at least once with their chosen weapon type to become eligible to gain 1 level of weapon proficiency. During the Aftermath, if they are victorious, eligible survivors gain 1 weapon proficiency level. Fill in the next unfilled box on the survivor's record sheet to indicate this.

A survivor cannot gain weapon proficiency if they do not have a weapon type stated (unless stated otherwise). They have not yet dedicated themselves to training and thus, cannot learn.

#### Changing Weapon Types

A survivor may change their selected weapon types when they depart for a hunt. If they do, lose all accrued levels of weapon proficiency, including weapon specializations. Erase any filled boxes and start over with a new weapon type.

#### Weapon Specialist/Mastery

When a survivor reaches the specialization milestone, they gain the benefits of the specialization card for their selected weapon type. Specializations are advanced abilities that can be used with that weapon. They keep these benefits while their milestones remain filled.

When a survivor reaches a weapon mastery, it is permanently added to your settlement as an innovation. The survivor's command of the weapon is so extensive that all current and future survivors of the settlement gain that weapon's specialization ability in addition to their own weapon proficiencies. The master will keep the benefits of the mastery, so long as the innovation remains in the settlement. If a new survivor wants to gain the benefits of a mastery that is already an innovation in the settlement, they must gain all 8 weapon proficiency levels for that weapon.

### Courage and Understanding

Courage and understanding will aid survivors throughout the hunt and showdown. Some event require levels of courage or understanding to participate in them. Courage is a survivor's potentially ill-advised bravery, and understanding is a survivor's insight.

Courage and understanding have milestones (indicated by heavy-lined boxes on the record sheet) that trigger story events the first time a survivor reaches that milestone. They can only be triggered once in a lifetime for each survivor.

### Fighting Arts

Fighting Arts can be learned from innovations and events. Some fighting arts are maneuvers that can be activated in place of weapon gear to make attacks. Fighting arts can have additional costs or prerequisites to use, but usually have exciting effects.

Each fighting art has a corresponding card in the Fighting Art deck that describes the rules for using it. When a survivor gains a fighting art, record it on the survivor record sheet. Survivors can have up to 3 fighting arts. Any further fighting arts gained must be replace an existing fighting art of the player's choice. If a survivor would gain a fighting art they already have, nothing happens. If a player loses the use of any fighting arts, fill the corresponding box. If you regain their use, erase the box.

Secret Fighting Arts are unique maneuvers that cannot be gained randomly. Each secret fighting art has corresponding card in the secret Fighting Art deck that describes rules for using it. These count towards your fighting art maximum of 3.

### Disorders

The horrors of their existence can cause survivors to develop mental disorders. Survivors can gain a specific or random disorder.

Disorder cards describe the effects of each disorder. If a survivor gains a random disorder, shuffle all disorder cards and draw one. When a survivor gains a particular disorder, draw the corresponding disorder card. When a survivor gains a disorder, record its rules on the survivor record sheet. Survivors can have up to 3 disorders. Any further disorders gained must replace an existing disorder of the player's choice. If a survivor would gain a disorder they already have, nothing happens.

Disorders can be cured on their own, at settlement locations, as a result of some innovations, and even during some events.

### Abilities and Impairments

In their lifetimes, survivors may gain abilities, severe injuries, impairments and other painful reminders of their journey. Record these in the Abilities & Impairments section of the survivor record sheet. A survivor may have any number of abilities and impairments. Abilities are unique rules acquired by survivors that can aid them during the hunt and showdown.

#### Severe Injuries

When survivor's armor and injury levels are exhausted, they accumulate severe injuries from the severe injury tables. Severe injurties can be temporary or permanent.

When you suffer permanent injuries, note the name and rules on your record sheet and adjust the survivor's attributes as necessary. If a permanent injury is healed, erase it from your record sheet. Some injuries require you to skip hunts (fill the Skip Next Hunt box on the survivor record sheet). Otherwise, severe injuries last until the end of the showdwon. Use attribute tokens to mark such injuries.

### Once Per Lifetime

Record events that are marked as "once per lifetime" when you gain them. This should help a player remember not to gain them again. If a player uses their Survival of the Fittest reroll, fill the checkbox. This reroll is unavailable to settlements that have not chosen Survival of the Fittest as their new life principle.