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Status Effects

Every status effect currently defined in the system - what triggers it, what it does, and how it clears. This isn't necessarily a permanently closed list; more may be added as the rules keep developing.

Distracted

Trigger: losing a Health Level, or being the target of a Kotodama effect, while resolving a Slow Action Bracket action. A Gift, an environmental hazard, or GM fiat can also impose it directly, whether or not a Slow action is involved.

Atropos + Difficulty, roll 2d10, to hold focus
Losing a Health Level or being targeted by Kotodama while resolving a Slow action triggers a roll to hold focus. Success resolves the action as declared. Failure downgrades a Slow action to Normal, or imposes Disadvantage outside a Slow action.

Effect: if the trigger happened during a Slow action, failing the roll downgrades that action to a Normal one, losing the called-shot option and the Advantage that made it Slow in the first place. Outside a Slow action, failure instead imposes Disadvantage on whatever triggered it.

Clears: resolved immediately by the roll itself - success or failure, there's nothing lingering afterward. Concentration grants immunity to being Distracted, regardless of the source.

Surprised

Trigger: not noticing a threat before combat begins - typically because an opposing Stealth roll beat your Perception, or the GM judges the fiction calls for it.

Effect: Disadvantage on everything - attacks, and any other roll where being ready matters - for the rest of the round you're caught in.

Surprised imposes Disadvantage on everything for the remainder of the round it triggers in, then clears automatically once that round ends.

Clears: automatically, once that round ends - no roll needed. Alertness grants immunity to being Surprised while conscious.

Flustered

Trigger: your Poise reaching 0.

Poise mirrors Health Levels but cannot drop below 0. Once at 0, a character is Flustered.

Effect: Disadvantage on all Social rolls, and on anything else where composure matters (GM's call), for the rest of the Scene.

Presence + Difficulty, roll 2d10, to shake it off early

Clears: lasts the rest of the Scene by default, but you can spend an action to roll Presence against a Difficulty and end it immediately on success. No Gift currently grants immunity to Flustered - intentional.

Overwhelmed

Trigger: your Sanity reaching 0.

Sanity mirrors Health Levels. At 0 a character is Overwhelmed; below 0 they are Shattered and can't act alone.

Effect: a temporary negative mental trait, plus Disadvantage on your rolls. You can still act on your own.

Clears: once you're removed from whatever caused it and get a chance to rest, or by spending 1 Ki - which also refills Sanity back to full.

Shattered

Trigger: your Sanity dropping below 0.

Sanity mirrors Health Levels. At 0 a character is Overwhelmed; below 0 they are Shattered and can't act alone.

Effect: panicky, babbling, unable to act on your own - someone has to lead or drag you.

Clears: the same two ways as Overwhelmed - removal-plus-rest, or 1 Ki - but either one only restores Sanity to 1, not fully; normal recovery resumes from there. Dropping below 0 always leaves a permanent mental scar, even if you recover with Ki.

Exhausted

Trigger: pushing a sustained physical exertion (forced marching, hard labor, running flat-out) past its free baseline duration, set by your Stamina. Each additional unit of time beyond that baseline requires a roll.

Water + Difficulty, roll 2d10 (Difficulty drops each successive check)

Effect: cumulative, stacking one level at a time on a failed check:

Each failed endurance check adds one level of Exhausted, from Disadvantage on Physical rolls at level 1 up through full collapse at level 5.
LevelEffect
1Disadvantage on Physical rolls
2Disadvantage on all rolls
3Movement Rate halved
4Can't take Slow actions
5Collapse - unconscious, can't act until rested

Clears: a Short Rest drops one level; a Full Night's Rest clears it entirely - the same Short/Full split Health Level recovery uses.