DaggerHeist! - Player Instructions

Heists are about a team of specialists executing their roles in perfect synchrony, removing obstacles and creating openings for each other. DaggerHeist adds a few special mechanics on top of Daggerheart to create this feeling. Here is how they work.

Before the Session

Role and Loadout

Choose a heist archetype you want to play. Classic roles include the Face (social engineering), the Sneak (stealth and agility), or the Muscle (combat and demolition). These are just inspirations; feel free to invent something unusual and make sure to coordinate with your group for balance. Or don’t! If an all-healer Crew sounds fun, go for it.

After choosing a role, pick a Loadout, which limits what you can carry in exchange for certain advantages. Loadouts represent how suspicious you look at a glance, and they naturally encourage different infiltration routes.

Heavy Loadout

• Best for Muscle-style characters.

• Compromising items are obvious; guards immediately react with alarm. Disadvantage on stealth checks.

• No equipment limits.

• Start with any Improved Weapon and any Improved Armor.

• Start with 1 major health and 1 major stamina potion.

Medium Loadout

• Best for Sneak-type characters.

• Compromising items are hidden under a cloak. Raises suspicion but not immediate alarm; fails upon close inspection.

• Weapons: Any Tier 2 Improved weapon with a damage die of d8 or lower. Melee weapons must be have a range of Melee, and ranged must have a range of Far or less.

• Armor: Improved Gambeson or Leather Armor. You keep Medium status as long as future armor has Minor threshold of 9 or below.

• Loot: Start with 1 regular health or stamina potion. Loot must be easily hidden under a cloak.

Light Loadout

• Best for Face-style characters.

• Compromising items are fully hidden; can withstand scrutiny unless acting suspiciously.

• Weapons: Improved Small Dagger or Improved Wand. Maintain Light status only with daggers or wands.

• Armor: Improved Gambeson Armor. Only Tyris Soft Armor (found during the heist) maintains the Light loadout.

• Loot: Start with 1 minor potion. Loot must fit in the palm of a hand.

You can swap loadouts during the heist by changing what you carry. Your loadout mainly limits which items you can acquire in Flashbacks.

Character Creation

Once you have a role and loadout, create your level 4 Daggerheart character within those limits. Don’t worry about gear beyond your starting weapon, armor, and potion. You can acquire anything else via Flashbacks.

The easiest way to build your character is directly in Foundry. Here’s a Tutorial

The Castle

The only fixed details are that you’re infiltrating a Castle, and your Score is kept in the Vault. You’ll have a chance to review the map in Foundry before the session and brainstorm ideas. But don’t overplan, this is just to spark creativity.

At the Start of the Session

We will collaboratively define the heist’s key story elements, Opportunities, and Complications. I’ll offer suggestions, but you’re encouraged to invent your own. Two rules apply: (1) everyone must think the ideas are fun, and (2) every helpful Opportunity must be balanced with a meaningful Complication.

Background Story

• What is the Score? Examples include stealing treasure, liberating a magical artifact, retrieving blackmail, freeing a hostage, or planting evidence.

• Why is your character risking their lives for this Heist? Personal motivations always make the heist better.

Opportunities

Each player introduces one Opportunity. Additional ones may be added, but the GM will balance them with Complications.

Example Opportunities:

• A large ball with many guests is taking place tonight. Temporary staff were hired to help with the event.
• A merchant is expected to deliver a couple of enormous slabs of ice today through the Back Gate.
• The combination for the Vault is known to a few members of the Family.
• A few large barrels of wine are expected to be received at the docks today.
• One of the towers was recently damaged and is currently undergoing renovations. The tower is enclosed in scaffolding. A crew of stone masons is working around the clock.
• There is a secret passage through the wall that can only be opened from inside the Statue Garden.
• Protective fields around the Castle are powered by a religious artefact that is stored in the Chapel.
• A new Guard Captain was recently hired.
• The Chef was fired a few days ago and the household is scrambling to replace them.
• The Castle is haunted by a ghost.
• The Lord’s mother recently got sick.
• A large supply shipment just arrived, crates everywhere, the staff is busy doing inventory.
• One of the guards is getting married in a few days.
• One of the guards likes to gamble a lot and owes a lot of money.
• A fire broke out in the kitchens last night, causing some minor damage.
• The castle is paranoid after a plague scare with one of the servants.
• The owner’s favorite horse went missing recently.
• A new mural or statue was recently unveiled.
• A rare celestial event occurs today.
• A scandalous love letter was discovered in the Stable Boy’s belongings, hinting at an affair with someone inside the Keep.
• One of your Crew looks exactly like a famous bard, Roberto/Roberta Julliards.

Complications

Complications are things the Crew knows about in advance and can plan around.

The default complications:

• The Master of the Castle is a Tier 4 threat (you choose: vampire, dragon, demon, wizard, witch, necromancer, lich) and arrives within 15 minutes of real-time once the alarm is raised.
• Magic-sniffing Bloodhounds are present and immediately detect ongoing or freshly cast spells.
• Every room in the Castle is equipped with a button that activates a Castle-wide alarm state. The alarm is sounded by the Bell Tower. When the alarm is activated, a large group of guards rushes to the location where the button was pressed. In addition, upon the activation of the alarm the Master of the Castle rushes back to defend their home.
• Some locations within the Castle are being constantly monitored by an Arcane Eye (CCTV) system. The system provides real time visual signal, but no sound.

More Complications will be added to balance your Opportunities. Players may add their own if they want a tougher or more chaotic mission.

Example Complications:

• Another crew is pulling off a heist at the same time.
• One random member of the Castle staff knows one of the Crew, and will immediately raise an alarm on sight.
• The Dungeon is equipped with the Shifting Gravity trap.
• The Dungeon is a maze that loops back on itself.
• Some rooms are equipped with magical scramblers, that randomize spell effects.
• Some rooms are equipped with anti-magic fields.
• Using healing items or spells pings the guards of the location.
• The Castle is equipped with Fear sensing sentries.
• The Score carries a powerful curse.
• A child from the Master’s family is essentially Kevin McCallister from Home Alone.

The GM may also spend Fear to introduce unexpected twists.

During the Heist

Flashbacks

Flashbacks let you jump back in time to reveal preparations made earlier, even if never mentioned. You stay in the action, hit a problem, and then show how you already set things up.

They cost Hope depending on complexity:

• 1 Hope: Buy an item using gold.

• 2 Hope: Interact with one person in the past.

• 3 Hope: Execute a multi-step mission.

Flashback Hope costs might increase later in the heist (mostly for pacing). The Crew shares a gold pool to purchase items during Flashbacks. I am still working out the prices/starting amounts. Coming Soon!

Purchasing Items with Gold

In Flashbacks, you can purchase items from the Loot and Consumables tables, up to item #48 on each list (Rare). You can also describe a custom item not on the list, and the GM will determine the price. Any mundane items (ropes, crowbars, etc) you can get for free.

Your Crew has 50 Handfuls of Gold (HG) to spend throughout your entire mission. Item costs are based on their rarity:

• Common (items #1 to #24): 1 HG
• Uncommon (items #25 to #36): 5 HG
• Rare (items #37 to #48): 20 HG

Explosives are a hallmark of Heist scenarios. As a special item, you can get barrels of black powder (Uncommon) each dealing 1d20+5 damage. Multiple barrels can be stacked to combine their damage.

Special Crew Abilities

The Crew is strongly encouraged to split the party, and have everyone take their own preferred infiltration route. However, to avoid some of the problems associated with splitting the party, everyone has the following abilities:

• Speaking Orbs: Everyone has invisible in-ear communicators with constant radio contact.

• Switch-a-roo Amulets: Once per character, you may magically swap positions with another PC. Both characters expend their use.

General Flow of the Heist

1. Infiltration — Everyone finds a cool way into the Castle.
2. Secondary Objectives — Remove or mitigate Complications before tackling the Vault.
3. Fight for the Vault — Face the remaining obstacles in the Dungeon and secure the Score.
4. The Getaway — Your escape plan… whatever it ends up being.