0.4 Final Playtest Version!

Alright. This is it, I think. 0.4, final Playtest version of the game. It comes with a staggering amount of small and big changes, some that I probably won't even remember to note. After this, hopefully, the next time you hear about me is when the edits are done, the art is done, and I start shipping the game to the supporters. PDFs first, physicals later (probably taking a month or two because of printing, proofing and mailing etc).

CHANGELOG:

• Lots of art. Holy shit LOTS OF ART.
• Fate Points Overhaul: Threads and Moments now set your Fate Points to 3, which is a new maximum amount. Threads and Moments are now limited to 1 per Session / per character. This is to encourage players to spend Fate Points liberally, and to avoid cheesing the Trust system.
• Wealth System Overhaul: I removed the old, crusty Wealth Slot mechanic (and the debt mechanic), and instead created something more robust and probably more interesting. Now, Wealth is a resource you can spend to purchase items of equal value or +1, but no higher. You have to make a check whether items are available to purchase if you try to obtain something rare in a place not accommodating (like trying to purchase plate armor in a small village). Cash has been replaced by Savings, which allows you to counter the loss of Wealth, or enable you to purchase that Rarity +1 item, at the cost of -1 Wealth. Items below your Wealth Rating are now FREE.
• Hazards Overhaul: I made some significant changes to how Gases, Explosions and Traps work. They're now much clearer intent and work in a more "simulationist" way.
• Inventory Overhaul: Your Inventory (Pack and Pockets) and Equipment are now divided into Item Slots. This is to make it easier to track, and to grant more benefits to larger Kits! Your Kit's rating (Basic/Expanded/Major) now also increases the amount of items you can fit into your Pack!
• Mook Grouping: I have changed how Mook Groups work. Instead of being a static thing, during each round, a number of Mooks can Group Up and act as one. Now their big benefit is gaining an up to +5 bonus to checks, depending on how many Mooks group up!
• Opponent Injuries: A new feature you can give to solo opponents, allowing them to take an injury and heal to full HP! This allows you to have effectively two-phase bosses (or maybe even more?), who have a second HP bar!
• Nemesis Overhaul: Nemeses were a little undertuned previously, and the Nemesis Traits vague! So what I did was expand the Nemesis Traits into Nemesis Abilities! They are basically the opposite of player abilities, and now include rules and suggestions on how to handle them narratively. Really cool stuff, I promise! Your nemeses can, for example, Reveal Machinations to put the players on a timer to avoid a terrible loss (such as a bomb going off or an orbital laser shooting at their hometown).
• Cross-references! I've added the much-needed cross-references to everything, including the Glossary in the back! You can now look at game terms alphabetically and instantly find the right place!
• Sorting: Minor sorting change: Most all equipment is now sorted by RARITY instead of Alphabetically. This changes the feel of the equipment pages significantly, I feel.
• Traits! Armor and Weapons gained a new "Advanced" trait, allowing for some weapons and armor (such as gunblades and plate armor) to be locked behind +3 Proficiency in Combat! This makes them stronger or cheaper in Rarity, but more difficult to use.
• Damage Types! Damage types got a naming overhaul, and a new category system. Damage types come now in 3 different types:
  • Physical: Bleed, Blunt, Pierce and Slash (new shortened names)
  • Energy: Acid, Cold, Electric, Fire, Toxic (replacing Poison!)
  • Special: Aether, Dark, Holy, Psychic

• Armor Update! Apparel now has different Armor values against different damage categories: Physical gains full Armor value, Energy gains half of the armor value, and Special goes fully through armor! This shifts the balance of damage types noticeably, and will probably need some playtesting and balancing, especially with Magic! This change is also represented in the character sheet, with new PHY, ENG and SPE boxes in the Apparel / Resistances box!
• New Optional Rules! I added an entire second spread's worth of new optional rules! These include things like: 
  • Epic Characters, going up to level 20 and Legendary Proficiencies up to +10; 
  • Flat Bonuses for removing Level from your Proficiency bonus; 
  • Escalation to make Conflicts end faster as each round the stakes go higher and crits become more likely; 
  • Wild Effect Die that is added or removed from Critical effects, and also makes you hit Strikes on failures, but with diminished effect!
  • Paradigms: My take on open-ended classes, giving players a base to start building characters with suggested Origins, Proficiencies and Abilities! Paradigms will be included in each setting book as well, because I kinda like them!