😰 Managing Stress
Stress represents mental focus, emotional endurance, and spiritual resilience. It is a pressure mechanic — building as you push yourself. If it gets too high, it can lead to damage or breakdown.
⚖️ What Is Stress?
- Stress is a measure of how much pressure you're under that rises when you strain your focus or willpower
- If Stress is at maximum, and you gain more:
- You take 1 HP damage per point you cannot mark
- You may suffer a Stress Break (GM discretion)
Most characters begin with 5 Stress boxes Some feature cards may increase or reduce this number
📈 Gaining Stress
You gain Stress from:
- Using powers or features that require it
- Choosing to absorb damage (see optional rule below)
- Failing Resistance Checks or enduring fear, magic, or trauma
- Pushing yourself beyond your limits (GM discretion)
Stress reflects mental and emotional strain, not just fear. Even brave or disciplined characters accumulate Stress.
🔥 Abilities That Use Stress
Some feature cards allow you to mark or gain Stress to:
- Reroll a failed Aspect Check
- Boost an ally’s Team Action
- Avoid a condition or negative effect
- Fuel a Domain ability
Example:
- Berserker – Gain 1 Stress to deal +2 damage
- Sorcerer – Gain 2 Stress to amplify or recover a spell
- Monk – Remove 1 Stress if you end your turn without taking damage
- Rewrite these examples to refer to Domains instead of classes/archetypes
- Rewrite the outer list to refer to finalized options
You may only use Stress if a card explicitly allows it.
💥 When Stress Is Maxed
If you gain Stress while full:
- Take 1 HP of damage per point you cannot add
- GM may describe a Stress Break — panic, hesitation, emotional collapse, etc.
Stress damage bypasses armor and cannot be resisted. Resistances and Immunities do not apply.
🧘 Reducing Stress
Stress clears slowly unless you have special features:
| Method | Effect |
|---|---|
| Quick Rest | Remove 1 Stress |
| Feature Card | Often removes Stress conditionally |
| Roleplay (optional) | The GM may allow recovery for moments of calm, success, or introspection |
🧪 Optional Rule: Absorb Damage with Stress
This optional rule allows more flexible defense at a cost:
When you would lose 1 HP, you may instead gain 2 Stress to avoid the injury.
- If this pushes you past your Stress limit, the excess becomes damage
- The GM may require narrative justification (e.g., mental resolve, divine shield, etc.)
This rule adds a high-risk, high-agency option for surviving tough fights.
🎯 Tracking Stress
Stress should be visible and tactile — use:
- Checkboxes on the character sheet
- Beads, coins, or sliders on the table
This keeps mental strain front of mind for all players.
🔗 Related Pages
- 🩸 Damage — When and how injury happens
- 💊 Resting — How to recover HP or conditions
- 🤝 Team Actions — Boost allies and share the burden