Quick Reference

Everything you need to keep the game moving.

Difficulty Bands

Throughout The Hollow, difficulty is written as a band followed by that many Trial dice . A range (for example, Average–Severe) means the GM sets the difficulty within those bands based on conditions.

A Trial die may be upgraded to a Crisis die (d12) for especially volatile situations. See the Exodus NDS Core Rules.

Character Creation: The Hollow Steps

(Chapter Three)

1. Assign Characteristics: all begin at 2; free +1/–1 swap; maximum 4 at creation
2. Choose Background: grants 4 Universal profession skills
3. Choose Career: grants 3 Discipline profession skills (one may be Restricted)
4. Choose Faction (or AO): faction membership grants faction profession skills, passive, starting talent option, starting gear, and access to 3 Hard-Gated Authority skills; OR choose an Associated Organization (GM approval; see Associated Organization Charter Traits below for AO membership rules)
5. Spend Starting XP (110 XP): skills, talents, Magical Tier Access; one profession skill may begin at rank 3
6. Record Derived Values: WP (10+Might), SP (10+Willpower), Resistance (½ Might, round up), Composure Initiative (Willpower + Composure), Corruption Track (starts 0), Magical Tier Access (record tier purchased, if any)
7. Record Awakened Blood: automatic; no cost; all PCs perceive the supernatural without Merciful Dissonance
8. Passion (Watchfires only): declare Passion; applies to Passion mechanic throughout play

XP Costs: Skills

(Chapter Three, Chapter Five)

Restricted Discipline Skills (Deliverance, Containment, Forbidden Rites) are profession skills only if a Background, Career, or Faction grants them. Taken otherwise they need GM approval, use the restricted track above, and add 1 Bane die to every check made out of profession.

XP Costs: Talents

(Chapter Six)

The Hollow doubles the Exodus NDS core talent rates. Out-of-profession access costs 10 XP more per tier.

Talents are bought in tier order within a tree. Magical trees use in-profession rates; see Magical Tier Access below for the WP cost that gates them. Corruption Talents are priced by threshold rather than tree order: 2+/3+/5+/7+/9+ cost 10/20/30/40/50 XP, always in-profession, plus 1 Corruption on first access.

Wound Escalation Scale

(Chapter Two, Chapter Ten)

Escalation triggers (event-driven only): Blood letting in ritual context; human sacrifice; completion of a dark rite; significant moral failure of genuine spiritual authority at the site.

De-escalation: Address the anchor condition; sustained consecrated presence; Spirit Banishment Breakthrough result.

Corruption Track

(Chapter Eight)

Common Corruption gains: Devil deal (see Devil Deal Summary); Forbidden Rites (result-driven: Banes and Calamities on the check; see Ch. 8); deliberate infernal ritual (+1 to +3); first access of Corruption Talent (+1 one-time per talent).

Corruption reduction: Sacramental Confession (–1); formal faction accountability (–1); significant restitution act (–1); spiritual retreat full session (–1). Maximum –1 per week in-fiction.

Body manifestations: Trace (2+): tells, no regular benefit; Marked (2+): narrow benefit + minor cost; Stained (5+): reliable benefit or natural weapon + visible drawback; Tainted (7+): strong benefit + serious drawback; Compromised (9+): major capability + infernal attention.

Manifestation examples: Night Eyes ignore darkness Bane but suffer under intense holy light; Grave Nails create concealed 1 WD claws but penalize delicate care; Maul Hand adds Might for force and 2 WD unarmed strikes but cannot open; Hell-Lit Eyes reveal infernal marks but notify nearby devils.

Faction Passives

(Chapter Four)

Associated Organization Charter Traits

(Chapter Four)

AO membership: use linked faction's profession skills and starting gear. Charter Trait replaces faction passive. Hard-gated authority skills require story justification.

Passion — Watchfires Quick Reference

(Chapter Four)

Mechanical benefit: After the dice are rolled and the result is visible, suffer Strain to add successes. The first costs 3 Strain; each further success on the same roll costs 1 more (3 / 4 / 5 / …). You cannot spend past what would incapacitate you. The Righteous Passion talent flattens this to 3 Strain per success. GM adjudicates "in direct service."

Bane die applies to: holy authority checks: Sacraments, Exorcism, Consecration, Deliverance, Righteous Fire (see Chapter Eight). Not combat, history, or unrelated skill checks.

Wiggle room (ambiguous situations): Registered before the action; rolled after. Pool: Willpower + Theology (external pressure) or Willpower + Composure (internal decision). GM may add or upgrade dice; player may counter. Success = no violation. Failure = tier consequences. Calamity = elevated tier.

Penance roll: Willpower + Theology. Hard (Greater Good) / Severe (Coercion) / Extreme (Willful). Upgrade one die if Passion's subject was harmed. Once per day. Calamity = skip a day. Narrative act may substitute for roll (GM discretion) or reduce difficulty by –1 step if combined with roll. One act clears both max Strain reduction and Bane die penalty.

Magical Tier Access

(Chapter Three, Chapter Six)

Each tier permanently lowers your maximum Wound Points (WP cap) by 1; the running total is the sum of all tiers purchased so far (Tier 4 unlocked means 4 max WP lost, not 4 for that tier alone). This is a permanent reduction of the WP cap, not damage, and it is not recoverable except through specific story events.

Magical Tier Access may be unlocked at character creation or during play. Magical talents are purchased with XP after the relevant tier is unlocked.

Skill prerequisites (magical trees): Exorcism tree requires Deliverance 1+; Spirit Banishment tree requires Discernment 1+; Summoning tree requires Forbidden Rites 1+.

Holy Power and Sanctity

(Chapter Eight)

Fully effective: Corruption below 5; acting within sanctioned office; no recent serious moral breach.

Diminished: Corruption 5–6 (add 2 Bane dice to all holy authority checks); operating outside technical scope but within honest intent.

Severely Diminished: Corruption 7–8 (add 3 Bane dice to all holy authority checks; replaces the 5–6 penalty); command effects unavailable.

Suspended: Corruption 9+ (auto-fail on all holy authority checks); acting in direct bad faith under infernal contract.

Anyone can use a holy item. Consecration effects require Theology 1+. Sacramental effects require ordained status. Command effects require no active devil contracts and Corruption below 7.

Exorcism Procedure Summary

(Chapter Eight)

Entity interference at Stage 4: Bargaining (real offers); Accusation (Composure check Average to maintain focus); Speaking a Name (false information); Escalation (1 Wound to host). Each interference action costs the demon 1 Strain.

Failure condition: 3 failures before 3 successes: exorcism fails; rest and new Stage 2 required before retry.

Spirit Banishment Summary

(Chapter Eight)

Banishment procedure for ghosts and spirits; see Supernatural Type Distinctions below for what each procedure can and cannot address.

Devil Deal Summary

(Chapter Eight)

Acceptance always costs +2 Corruption.

Counter-negotiation: Willpower + Negotiation or Deception, Severe . Success may modify terms; failure leaves original terms on table.

Breaking a contract: Outperform the letter (Willpower + Negotiation Severe to assess feasibility); formal dissolution ritual (Theology 4, Dead Languages 2, extended Severe check); authority override (story event).

Breach without resolution: +1 Corruption per major case.

Corruption 5+: existing contracts bind more firmly; revocation checks become Severe instead of Hard (Chapter Eight).

Boon Spend Options: Combat

(Chapter Seven)

Common spends, not an exhaustive list: Boons may also buy narrative effects per the core Reading Results rules, GM adjudicating. The core spends of Strain recovery and direct condition application (Prone, Disoriented) are not used in The Hollow.

Boon Spend Options: Investigation

(Chapter Ten)

Supernatural Type Distinctions

(Chapter Two, Chapter Eight, Chapter Eleven)

Merciful Dissonance: see Merciful Dissonance Summary, below.

Wrong-tool consequences (beyond simple failure): Exorcism on a dybbuk or ibbur displaces the soul into free-float, leaves the host open to demonic possession for hours to days (duration by soul tier), and costs the exorcist 1 Corruption. Banishment on a demon opens a purgatory distortion: demon rolls Willpower (Severe/Hard/Average by tier Minor/Significant/Major) to enter purgatory, or on failure attempts to possess the banisher.

Possession Resistance Summary

(Chapter Twelve; PC surfacing in Chapter Eight)

Establishing possession (opposed check):

Demon wins by 1+ net success → possession established. Tie → no possession, no cost to either side. Victim wins → attempt fails; demon suffers 1 Strain per net success the victim achieved over it. The demon sees the full pool before committing and may withdraw. Impossible on consecrated ground.

Ongoing control (once possessed): one-sided demon check (Willpower + Possession upgrades) vs. fixed difficulty by escalation step: Step 1 minor drift Automatic; Step 2 social damage Easy ; Step 3 minor criminality Average ; Step 4 serious harm Hard ; Step 5 self-destruction Severe . Conditioning: each successfully forced action becomes 1 step easier on future checks. The victim does not roll; if the demon rushes more than one step up, the victim resists with an opposed Willpower check.

Strain economy: failed possession attempt = 1 Strain per net success against; 2 Strain per bane result on any check; Stage 4 interference cost (see Exorcism Procedure Summary, above). Recovery: Willpower per day; 1 per boon result. Strain 0 = expelled: the demon must attempt a Rushed Possession or it dies (instant death on consecrated ground).

PC surfacing on their turn: Willpower + Deliverance vs. Average (Minor) / Hard (Significant) / Severe (Major); on success: one action or one sentence; the demon spends 1 Strain to reassert control.

Dual possession: Control contest each period: demon Willpower (die quality by tier: Minor all ability , Significant half mastery, Major all mastery ) vs. human soul Willpower (Minor quality unless established otherwise). Losing entity assists investigators in expelling the other; GM reduces check difficulty by 1 step without explanation. After wrong-target expulsion: remaining entity mimics normal host; Discernment Hard to detect.

Pronunciation Guide

(Chapter Eight, Chapter Eleven)

Weapon Qualities Reference

(Chapter Seven)

Entity Tier Reference

(Chapter Eleven)

Weakness mechanic: Exploiting a confirmed weakness = +1 Boon die on the relevant action, target's Resistance reduced to 0 for that action, and one Supernatural Defense bypassed. Confirmation requires a successful Research, Monster Lore, Theology, or Occult Lore check. A Black Road hunter (Kill It Right) may act on a suspected weakness before confirming it.

Merciful Dissonance Summary

(Chapter Two, Chapter Ten, Chapter Twelve)

Ordinary people without Awakened Blood cannot store a supernatural event accurately; the mind substitutes the nearest mundane explanation. Player characters are immune; witnesses, institutions, and official records are not. The GM preps a coherent mundane account before the session (a gas leak, an electrical fault, a psychological break). Full rules: Chapter Two for the premise, Chapter Twelve for GM procedure.

Breaks it:

• Accumulated evidence contradicting the mundane record, until the characters can articulate a full alternative explanation. No fixed threshold; GM judgment call.
• Nothing else. There is no Perception check or other roll that pierces Merciful Dissonance.

Doesn't break it:

• A witness recounting the mundane version. They believe it, since the memory itself was rewritten; treat them as sincere.
• A mundane explanation that happens to be correct, or a cover-up by human beings.

Lyncean Office passive (Impossible Evidence): see Faction Passives, above.

Investigation Evidence Types

(Chapter Ten)

Difficulty: Easy (undisturbed) → Average (partial obscuring) → Hard (cleaned up or time passed) → Severe (actively concealed) → Extreme (trace evidence only).

Relic Classification Summary

(Chapter Nine)

Operational relics: may add 1 Boon die , remove 1 Bane die , upgrade one Ability die , permit an otherwise impossible check, or reduce difficulty by 1 step. If an item grants more than one benefit, require immediate cost: Strain, Wounds, Corruption, attachment, or supernatural attention.

Occult attachments: body-part relics and grafted objects are Forbidden Workings, not normal gear. Installation requires real sacrifice, causes Corruption, and creates visible/medical/spiritual consequences.

Initiative & Surprise

(Core Rules; Chapter Three)

The Hollow uses the core Exodus NDS initiative system. At the start of structured play, each character rolls an Initiative check:

• Savvy + Perception when prepared, on watch, or expecting trouble.
• Willpower + Composure when surprised or reacting under sudden pressure (Composure is The Hollow's name for the core Readiness skill).

Rank the results by net Successes. Each result becomes an initiative slot, and slots belong to the side that rolled them: player slots and GM slots. Within each round, the two sides alternate claiming slots in ranked order. The players decide which character acts in each player slot as it comes up; the GM decides for each GM slot. A tie between a player slot and a GM slot goes to the players. Ties within the same side are resolved in any order that side chooses.

The slot order holds between rounds unless an effect changes it, but either side may put a different eligible character in its own slot each round.

Surprise. Surprise changes which Initiative pool applies; it does not grant a free action or an extra round (Core Rules). A surprised character rolls Willpower + Composure for Initiative. If a character is completely unaware with no plausible chance to react, the GM may also add Bane dice , start them out of position, or deny prepared equipment. When surprise is contested, resolve the ambusher's Stealth against the target's Perception or Composure; the loser counts as surprised.

Story Points

(Core Rules)

The Hollow uses the core Exodus NDS Story Point economy unchanged. Each session the group holds 1 Fortune Point per player and 1 Peril Point for the GM. A spent Fortune Point becomes a Peril Point; a spent Peril Point becomes a Fortune Point. A character may spend at most one Story Point per check. See the Exodus NDS Core Rules for the full list of Fortune and Peril spends.

Recovery

(Core Rules)

The Hollow uses the core Exodus NDS recovery rules unchanged.

• Strain: at the end of any structured encounter, recover Strain equal to Willpower. A full rest recovers all Strain; if you were incapacitated by Strain, a full rest instead reduces current Strain to half your Strain Points, rounded down. Catch Breath (Maneuver, once per encounter): recover 1 Strain.
• Wounds: after a full night's rest or equivalent, recover Wounds equal to Might. Under medical care, the caregiver makes a Medicine check; each net Success restores 1 additional Wound.
• Critical Injuries: remain until removed by a Medicine check with difficulty by severity (Minor: Easy / Moderate: Average / Severe: Hard / Deadly: Severe ). Mortal entries specify their own stabilization requirements. Each untreated Critical Injury adds +10 to future Critical Injury rolls.
• The core "spend 1 Boon to recover 1 Strain" floor is not used in The Hollow.

Critical Injuries

(Core Rules)

A Critical Injury is inflicted when an attacker spends a Breakthrough on the attack, when an attack's net Boons meet the weapon's Crit rating and are spent to inflict one, or when a target is struck while already incapacitated. Hollow weapons that list no Crit-modifying quality use The Hollow default of 3 (see Weapon Qualities Reference, Chapter Seven).

Roll d100 and add +10 for every Critical Injury the target already carries (results can climb past 100). Apply the matching entry. Severity bands: Minor 01–30, Moderate 31–60, Severe 61–85, Deadly 86–100, Mortal 101+. Each untreated Critical Injury keeps adding +10 to later rolls until it is removed by a Medicine check (difficulty by severity).

Critical Injury Table