Conditions

Overview

Conditions are active states that put pressure on a character.

A Condition may represent injury, exhaustion, fear, social exposure, contamination, oath pressure, resonance burn, lifeforce strain, pursuit, isolation, or other pressure that matters in play. Conditions are not a separate health track. They are fiction-facing constraints that change what a character can safely attempt and what consequences remain available.

Conditions should be specific enough to matter. Hurt is often too vague; Bleeding, Pinned, Distrusted, Storm-Marked, or Lost gives the table clearer guidance.

Condition Function

When a Condition applies to a roll, it usually removes 1 die from the pool.

A Condition can also matter without a roll. It may restrict permission, make an action impossible without help, expose the character to worse consequences, create social or magical vulnerability, or explain why a cost follows from the fiction.

Do not apply every Condition to every roll. A Condition matters when it directly affects the action, position, risk, or available consequence.

Condition Severity

Use severity to show how hard a Condition is to ignore or clear.

Severity Mechanical Weight Typical Use

Minor

Usually removes 1 die when relevant.

Fatigue, embarrassment, brief exposure, shaken footing, light injury, temporary confusion.

Serious

Removes 1 die when relevant and may restrict permission or worsen position.

Deep exhaustion, public disgrace, dangerous pursuit, unstable wound, active contamination.

Severe

Removes 1 die when relevant and strongly constrains action until addressed.

Crippling injury, magical corruption, lethal exposure, total isolation, binding public condemnation.

Severity does not usually increase the die penalty by itself. It changes how often the Condition applies, how hard it is to clear, and how serious the consequences become if ignored.

Combat Wounds and Pressure

uses Conditions for wounds and pressure.

Combat State Condition Form Use

Minor wound

Minor physical Condition or wound mark.

Common cuts, bruises, staggers, glancing shots, pain, or shallow harm. It matters when relevant but does not decide a standard fight alone.

Serious wound

Serious physical Condition.

Deep injury, hard impact, disabling pain, bleeding, cracked bone, unstable system shock, or comparable harm. It can restrict permission, worsen position, or demand urgent response.

Severe wound

Severe physical Condition or removal state.

Fight-ending harm, lethal exposure, maiming injury, catastrophic spell backlash, or scale-mismatch damage. It usually removes the target unless protected or stabilized.

Combat pressure

Immediate or persistent pressure state.

Being pinned, exposed, crowded, off-balance, suppressed, separated, disarmed, flanked, or driven into danger. It usually affects the next relevant roll or becomes a Condition if it persists.

Minor and Serious wounds can be tracked as wound marks during a fight, then translated into named Conditions afterward if they continue to matter. For example, two Minor wounds might become Bleeding or Battered; a Serious wound might become Cracked Ribs, Burned Hand, Shot Through, or Concussed.

Use named Conditions when the exact fiction matters. Use simple wound marks when the scene only needs pacing and defeat thresholds.

Combat pressure should be cleared by changing the situation, not by waiting silently. Cover, movement, rescue, help, equipment, magic, surrender, or a successful exchange can all answer pressure if the fiction supports it.

Applying Conditions

Conditions usually come from consequences, failed or costly rolls, dangerous choices, hostile action, magical overstrain, social fallout, travel pressure, or voluntary risk.

When applying a Condition, name it clearly and make its source obvious. A good Condition tells the player what changed and gives the Storyteller a concrete handle for future pressure.

Conditions can stack only when they describe meaningfully different pressures. A character can be Spent and Hunted, but should not carry three versions of the same exhaustion Condition unless the fiction has changed enough to justify separate pressure.

If several consequences point to the same pressure, increase severity, sharpen the fictional restriction, or add a related but distinct Condition.

Clearing Conditions

Conditions clear through appropriate fictional action.

Condition Kind Common Clearing Methods

Physical

Rest, treatment, shelter, tools, time, surgery, carried support, or magical healing where available.

Exhaustion

Food, water, sleep, safety, pacing, warmth, relief from burden, or stable shelter.

Social

Apology, testimony, public proof, patronage, restitution, formal hearing, or changed standing.

Travel

Reorientation, maps, guides, landmarks, safe route recovery, or reaching a known place.

Magical

Ritual cleansing, grounding, warding, expert help, sacrifice, containment, or withdrawal from the source.

Lifeforce

Rest, care, ritual restoration, time away from metaphysical pressure, or accepting a lasting trace.

Minor Conditions may clear with a short scene of appropriate care or recovery. Serious Conditions usually require focused action, meaningful time, or help. Severe Conditions should require a dedicated recovery procedure, major opportunity, or lasting tradeoff.

Sample Conditions

Condition Usual Severity Meaning

Unsettled

Minor

The character is physically or emotionally off balance and struggles with steady action.

Spent

Minor or Serious

Exhaustion, hunger, strain, or overwork makes effort harder.

Overburdened

Minor or Serious

Weight, duty, tools, or a carried person limits movement and response.

Overstimulated

Minor

Sensory pressure makes focus difficult.

Sickened

Minor or Serious

Illness, poison, blight, or contamination weakens the character.

Out of Rhythm

Minor

The character’s sense of timing, ecology, body, or place is disrupted.

Lost

Serious

The character or group lacks a reliable route, landmark, or way back.

Exposed

Minor or Serious

The character is visible, vulnerable, socially revealed, or physically unprotected.

Hunted

Serious

A pursuer has enough information or momentum to keep pressure on the character.

Unwelcome

Minor or Serious

Local people, law, or custom rejects the character’s presence or claim.

Storm-Marked

Serious

Storm attention, omen panic, or elemental charge clings to the character.

Distrusted

Minor or Serious

Others treat the character’s words, motives, or presence as suspect.

Disarmed

Minor or Serious

The character has lost access to an important weapon, tool, focus, or control device.

Pinned

Minor or Serious

The character cannot move freely without first answering the pressure holding them in place.

Restrained

Serious

The character’s body, limbs, vehicle, magic, or tools are controlled by bindings, grip, terrain, or force.

Stunned

Minor or Serious

Shock, pain, overload, impact, or magic interrupts clear action for the moment.

Drained

Minor or Serious

Vital reserves, charge, heat, or usable magical capacity have been depleted.

Contaminated

Serious

Magical residue, disease, corruption, hostile resonance, or unstable matter clings to the character.

Resonance-Burned

Serious or Severe

Resonance pressure has scorched, overloaded, or destabilized the character’s body or magical channels.

Future Use

Later harm, travel, social conflict, magic, lifeforce, and recovery rules should reuse this Condition structure unless playtesting shows that a separate subsystem is needed.

Conditions should remain fiction-facing. They should replace most numerical harm tracking in the first-pass design rather than sit beside a large health-point system.