Stress

A special resource and universal measure of the health and well-being of characters and equipment.

Stress is a generic and universal measure of accumulated toil and strain, and is the core health indicator for all player and non-player characters and equipment.

Stress Level

A character's Stress Level is measured on a scale from 0 to a maximum level determined by their Character Tier. For player characters, the maximum Stress Level matches the dice size of their Character Tier rating. For example, a character with a Character Tier rating of D8 would have a maximum Stress Level of 8. Non-player characters and equipment have a maximum Stress Level of half the size of their Character Tier. An NPC with a Character Tier rating of D6 would have a maximum stress level of 3.

Managing Stress

Stress is managed as a Resource on the character sheet. A character's Stress Level starts at 0 at the beginning of a game session and can increase and accumulate during gameplay. By default, when a player suffers negative consequences from their actions and reactions, the player chooses whether the character suffers stress or adds a condition. If the character reaches their maximum Stress Level, the player has no further choice, they must add a condition to their character.

Stress is recovered through rest and recovery. Unlike conditions that can be treated during gameplay, a character's Stress Level is reduced to 0 only by taking a period of Downtime.