FiveEvil: Core Rulebook

FiveEvil has been wrought to evoke the horror genre by cleverly twisting the underlying 5th Edition ruleset, subverting 5E play to defy expectations and concentrate the horror. It’s also packed with advice and ideas on how to create the very best horror gaming sessions.

The primary setting focus is modern day horror, inspired by the work of Stephen King, and moody, character-driven horror films like The Ritual, The Descent and Jacob’s Ladder. Rather than seeking out evil in order to vanquish it, or investigating clues to battle malign influence, characters in FiveEvil are regular people trapped in a terrifying situation just attempting to survive and escape.

FiveEvil goes further than creating creepy situations with locations and monsters. It is a series of changes within the 5e ruleset which drive the horror:

Intensity
Intensity replaces DC. Every check is based on the intensity of a scene. And you can bet it’s going to escalate as the horror unfolds…

Desperation
Desperation replaces Inspiration. Desperation is a debt you take on to gain the benefits of Inspiration, one which will need to be repaid. Of course like any debt, you can keep adding to it, but will you ever recover?

Personality Aspects
Your character’s personality aspects are what will help them shake off the debt of Desperation. Playing to your character provides tangiable rewards.

Descriptions
Descriptions are a shorthand for NPCs that can replace entire stat blocks in order to streamline play and keep the horror moving. For Player Characters they work like skills providing bonuses to a dice roll.

Advanced Ability Checks
FiveEvil gives you a clear structure for different kinds of skill check - where success is impossible, or where there’s a complex interplay of desired outcomes and unattractive possibilities bound up in one check.

Terror Encounters
Rather than combat encounters where you might expect to trade blows and whittle away hit points, thing are notably different in a Terror Encounter. There are no standard combats native to FiveEvil.

Getting Hurt
Player Characters in FiveEvil do not enjoy the luxury of copious hit points, and they are more fragile than their standard fantasy counterparts.

Suffering
Suffering is a new way to track descriptive damage and structures it into play.

Conditions
FiveEvil leans hard into conditions and has its own horror-appropriate list of conditions.

Doom Checks
GMing Horror, and making it relentlessly punishing for the Player Characters can be hard. When you don’t know which way to go, Doom Checks are here to do the hard work for you.

Investigations
FiveEvil offers a solid structure for investigating a creature or a situation using existing 5E tools in new ways.

The Verge
The verge is the structured place where the monsters are hiding, moving, changing and outflanking you while you’re not looking.

Hunt Encounters
Being hunted is a big part of the horror experience. FiveEvil provides a framework for running tense, exciting hunts and chases.