Scars

How Do Scars Work?

Going to 0 leaves a mark. Going below it leaves something that lasts.

At 0, any Vital leaves a purely cosmetic mark, with no mechanical effect: a scar, a limp or a changed voice from Health; a nervous habit or a reputation quirk from Poise; a tic, an intrusive thought or a private ritual from Sanity. The Healing and Regeneration Gifts both grant immunity to the Health one, for the target they're used on.

Below 0, the character takes a scar: one effect from the matching list below. Health leaves a Physical scar, Poise a Social one, Sanity a Mental one. The GM picks it, or the GM and the player talk it over and decide together.

• One scar per crossing. Each fresh crossing below 0, after healing back up in between, adds one more. Going deeper in one crossing doesn't add a second, and the same scar can't be taken twice.
• A scar isn't a Flaw. It grants no Flaw points, and a scar causing trouble never earns a Fate Token.
• A scar is permanent until something heals it.

Healing a Scar

The count is how far below 0 the character went: −1 is one, −7 is seven.

A Gift or Adder needs dedicated time across that span, as its own entry says. A Skill needs regular work across it from someone Trained in that Skill - for Networking, the scarred character themselves. A scarred reputation can't be treated or healed - it has to be rebuilt. No Gift reaches a Social scar.

Physical Scars

From Health.

At 0: a mark

No mechanical effect. Some ideas, if nothing better comes out of the scene:

1. A jagged scar across the wound site, visible but doesn't impede
2. A permanent limp on rough terrain
3. A patch of skin that never healed right - discolored, numb to light touch
4. A voice roughened or lowered permanently
5. A missing fingertip or toe - functional, just gone
6. A streak of hair gone stark white or gray from the wound site
7. A faint tremor in one hand at rest, vanishing under real focus
8. Eyes that don't quite match anymore
9. A patch that never grows hair again
10. Joints that ache and predict weather changes
11. A visible burn or frost pattern mapped permanently onto skin
12. Breathing that's audibly different under exertion - a whistle, a rasp
13. A crooked bone that healed slightly off, visible on an X-ray but otherwise unnoticeable
14. Scar tissue thick enough to be felt through clothing
15. A nail that grows in permanently misshapen
16. Skin that flushes or pales unusually fast at that spot
17. A knee or shoulder that pops audibly on certain movements, harmless but noticeable
18. A patch of skin that no longer tans or burns the way the rest does
19. A scar that aches faintly whenever the weather turns cold
20. Slightly reduced flexibility in one joint - cosmetic stiffness, not real impairment
21. A permanent goosebump-like texture over the old wound site
22. Teeth that chipped and were never quite fixed right
23. A faint, bruise-like discoloration that never fully fades
24. A small patch of numbness from old nerve damage
25. A scar that catches light oddly - faintly visible under blacklight or certain conditions
26. Slightly asymmetrical features from an old fracture that reset imperfectly
27. A permanent callus on a palm or sole from old repeated strain

Below 0: the scar

Social Scars

From Poise.

At 0: a mark

No mechanical effect. Some ideas, if nothing better comes out of the scene:

1. A nervous habit that surfaces under real social pressure - fidgeting, a verbal tic, avoiding eye contact
2. A specific phrase or turn of speech you now overuse without noticing
3. A reputation quirk that follows you in certain circles - "the one who choked at..."
4. A changed laugh - shorter, more guarded than it used to be
5. A tendency to over-rehearse anything important before saying it out loud
6. A specific social setting (a stage, a boardroom, a particular kind of crowd) that now makes you visibly stiffen
7. A habit of downplaying your own achievements before anyone else can
8. A go-to deflection joke you reach for whenever a conversation gets too real
9. A slightly too-careful way of choosing words around one specific topic
10. A physical tell - a hand to the collar, a shift in stance - that reads as discomfort to anyone paying attention
11. An overcorrected confidence in low-stakes situations, masking real unease in higher-stakes ones
12. A story you tell about the incident that's just slightly different from what actually happened
13. A specific compliment or criticism that visibly throws you off script, every time
14. A preference for written communication over face-to-face when the stakes are real
15. A practiced neutral expression that slips only under real, direct pressure

Below 0: the scar

Mental Scars

From Sanity.

At 0: a mark

No mechanical effect. Some ideas, if nothing better comes out of the scene:

1. A tic that flares under stress - touching the scar, tapping a rhythm
2. A recurring intrusive thought about the incident, easily dismissed but never fully gone
3. A specific object you now can't be without, though you function fine if separated from it
4. A genuine blank spot for the worst moment itself, though everything around it is intact
5. A smell, sound, or phrase that makes you flinch, just for a beat
6. Talking in your sleep about it, unknowingly
7. A changed relationship to something ordinary (can't watch a certain kind of media, avoid a certain place)
8. A new permanent habit picked up from the stress - counting, humming, checking locks
9. A specific number, date, or word that now feels unlucky or significant, without being able to say why
10. Difficulty holding eye contact when a conversation brushes the same topic
11. A new taste or aversion to a specific food tied to the memory
12. Automatically counting exits or escape routes on entering any room
13. A private, harmless bedtime ritual that wasn't there before
14. A mild wariness of a type of person resembling someone from the incident, not an individual
15. Genuine discomfort with one specific genre or kind of media
16. Talking quietly to yourself when alone, working through something unresolved
17. A changed relationship to darkness or silence - needing a light on, or needing background noise
18. Writing things down obsessively you'd normally just remember, not trusting your own memory the same way
19. A flinch at being touched unexpectedly from one specific direction
20. Preferring to sit facing exits or doors, without consciously deciding to
21. A recurring, harmless dream fragment that resurfaces under stress
22. Over-explaining or over-apologizing in moments that echo the original incident
23. A private phrase or word you use only in your own head to steady yourself

Below 0: the scar

Making a New Scar

The lists are a starting point. When none of them fits what happened, make one.

• Tie it to the harm. A scar comes from one moment - the knife that went in under the ribs, the speech that fell apart in front of the whole room, the thing in the basement. The best ones are the ones anybody at the table can point back to.
• Match the Vital. A Social scar is never a wound, and a Physical scar never changes what anybody thinks of you.
• Keep it narrow. A scar should bite about once a session, not every roll. Build it from Disadvantage on one or two named Skills or one kind of situation; a Condition that one specific trigger sets off; one extra die for a particular kind of attack against you; a small cut, in one narrow case, to something you'd otherwise always have - a Rest, your Movement Rate, your Fast Bracket, a Ki use, being Helped; or plain story - a lost memory, a name that sticks, a door that's closed to you.
• Never a penalty on every roll, a lost Attribute or sub-stat point, fewer Health Levels, or anything that ends the character. Scars stack, and a scar that hits everything turns three bad nights into a character nobody wants to play.