V. Conditions & Character Death
Conditions
Aside from losing hit points and gaining strain, player characters may come under the effect of various “conditions” during the course of a game, which affect them in different ways.
Some conditions may last for a preset amount of time, such as one turn, one hour, or until the character has taken a long rest. Other conditions may last indefinitely or until the character has received some kind of medical or magical intervention.
Ultimately, it’s up to the GM to determine how long a particular condition lasts based on the circumstances and what a player can do (if anything) to mitigate or remedy the condition.
Beguiled: When subjected to magical beguilement, roll Will. On a complete success, you are not beguiled. On a partial success, you are beguiled for half the normal duration. On a failure, you are beguiled. A beguiled person or creature will not intentionally harm their beguiler. They follow commands given by them, as long as they don’t include obvious self-harm. If the beguiler asks the beguiled to attack, harm, or act against a friend or ally (or otherwise perform an act they would find reprehensible), they roll Will to resist the command. On a complete success, they are no longer beguiled. On a partial success, they may simply ignore that command (but remain beguiled). On a fail, they must follow the command.
Blind/Blinded: When attempting an action that would require sight, the roll is made at disadvantage.
Hemorrhagic (Bleeding Out): Death in D3 hours unless treated. All action rolls are made at disadvantage.
Incapacitated/Paralyzed: You are semi-conscious and somewhat aware of what’s happening around you, but cannot move, speak, or take actions. Attack rolls against you automatically hit (no Defense roll). Without aid, you will die in D3 days.
Infected: An infected character does not benefit from resting. Instead they lose D6 HP every 24 hours, unless specified otherwise by a specific infection.
Invisible: You disappear from normal sight but still make noise and leave a trail (e.g. footprints in the mud or blood trail). Gain a 2X bonus to all Defense and Hide/Stealth rolls. Gain a 1X bonus to all Attack rolls.
Poisoned: Poisoned characters do not recover HP from resting. Instead, they lose D3 or D6 HP each day (depending on poison strength) until they receive medical attention or an antidote. For weaker poisons, the GM may allow the player to make a Brawn roll once a day, overcoming the poison on a complete success. For stronger poisons, the Brawn roll is made with a penalty (unless medical aid is provided).
Prone: You get knocked flat. Suffer a Penalty to all Defense rolls until no longer prone. Melee attacks from prone suffer a Penalty. Standing from prone uses half your movement.
Restrained: You cannot move or take actions until unrestrained (roll Brawn or Agility to break free). Attacks automatically hit a restrained target. If restrained by rope, handcuffs, etc. it may or may not be possible to break free without assistance.
Staggered: Cannot take actions, penalty to defense rolls, and movement speed is reduced by half for the duration.
Stupefied: All actions are made with a penalty.
Terrified: A person or creature cannot willingly move closer to the source of its terror and makes any attacks against it with a Penalty until the terror ends.
Unconscious: You are incapacitated and no longer conscious or aware of anything happening around you. You cannot move, speak, or take actions.
Character Death
Depending on the type of game you’re playing, some characters may not live to see the end of a campaign.
Without the possibility of character death, a role-playing game usually isn’t as exciting.
Of course, when a PC gets killed (especially in a sudden, unexpected way), it can be upsetting for the player. However, this is a normal part of playing table-top role-playing games. The GM should understand that this can be an emotional experience and show empathy, especially for newer players. For experienced players, it’s usually not a big deal.
It’s often a good idea to explain to new players up front, during session zero or at the beginning of session one, that character death is a possibility. It can be emotional, especially if you’ve been playing the same character for months. But it’s also an opportunity for players to experience creating and developing new and interesting characters with different attributes, skills, and backstories.
If character death is too emotionally difficult for a player, you can always rule that their character is incapacitated (not dead) but has taken too much trauma to continue on and decides to “retire.”