Funnel Rules

  • This text provides the necessary rules for creating PCs for a funnel adventure. You can also find this in a one page PDF format here.
  • The original author is Xenio.
  • This content is licensed under CC-BY-SA 4.0.

A funnel is a pre-campaign game mode where each player takes control of multiple characters that are still fresh and inexperienced, considerably less capable than the regular adventurers.

Character Creation

Each player creates 3 characters according to the following steps:

  • Generate the Ability Scores of each character by rolling 3d6 and keeping the two lowest results for each ability in order (for a total of 2-12 in each ability score). Different from the core rules of Cairn, no results are swapped.

  • Roll 1d4 to determine each character’s starting Hit Protection (HP).

  • Roll for the Name, Background and Traits in the tables found in pages 5 and 6 of Cairn.

  • Each of the characters start with A torch (one slot), One day rations, 1d6 gold pieces and two items from their background according to the following table:

     
Background Item 1 Item 2
Alchemist Fire Oil Glue
Blacksmith Hammer (d6) Bellows
Butcher Meat Knife Salt Pack
Burglar Lockpicks Grappling Hook
Carpenter Saw Drill (Manual)
Cleric Holy Water Incense
Gambler Card Deck Loaded Dice
Gravedigger Shovel Lantern & Oil
Herbalist Wolfsbane Perfume
Hunter Large Trap Bow (d6, bulky)
Magician Scroll (Random Spell) Staff (d6)
Mercenary Spear (d8, bulky) Brigandine (1 Armor, Bulky)
Merchant (+4 slots, bulky) Quill & Ink
Miner Pick Helmet (+1 Armor)
Outlaw Manacles Crowbar
Performer Face Paint Instrument
Pickpocket Dagger (d6) Fake Jewels
Smuggler Large Sack Rope (25ft)
Servant Small Bell Mirror
Ranger Hatchet (d6) Horn

After the funnel any surviving characters become full adventurers. Advance them as:

  • For each ability, roll 1d6 and add the result to the ability score.

  • Roll 1d6, if the result is higher than your HP, it becomes the new total.

If a player has more than one surviving character, they can choose which one to keep after the advancement rolls.