STRESS AND FALLOUT

STRESS

Stress is a metaphysical analog to damage. It represents the burden of encountering the horrors and the weird, how it wears at an Investigator’s resolve, eventually breaking them down and changing them. The more Stress you take, the more likely it is you’ll be changed by Fallout.

Stress often comes from environmental triggers or narrative consequences, such as witnessing something horrid or failing a Save, but is also the direct result of the horrors attempts to corrupt and change an individual. In general:

• 1 Stress: Witnessing something horrid.
• 1d4 Stress: Particularly horrific scenes or the abilities of minor horrors.
• 1d6 Stress: Abilities of major horrors.
• 1d8+ Stress: Abilities of particularly monstrous entities or witnessing events not meant for human eyes.

FALLOUT

Stress that exceeds HP is deducted from CTRL. Target must make a CTRL Save or suffer Fallout, which fills Inventory Slots.

Fallout is a representation of the horrors having a tangible effect on the Investigators as a result of taking Critical Stress due to their encounters with the weird and horrific. It serves as a mirror, showing the Investigators that they may soon become like the horrors they face if they’re not careful.

Fallout serves as loose character progression, both in a mechanical and narrative sense. It often makes an Investigator stronger or more capable, but it also makes them a little weirder, and may change how they behave or how they’re perceived by others.

Under most circumstances, Fallout is a permanent change. However, some Fallout can be healed through dangerous Rituals, medical intervention, or by removing oneself from proximity to the horrors that caused it.

Fallout often works best when tailored to specific horrors and scenarios, but a general list to serve as inspiration can be found on the next page. Additional Fallout can be found in the Deluxe Edition Appendix: Fallout (p. x).

MUNDANE FALLOUT

There are occasions when an Investigator will receive Stress from a comparatively mundane source, such as seeing the body of a fallen ally or an item breaking at an inopportune time. In the event that this triggers Critical Stress, it may not seem appropriate for the situation for the Investigator to take a traditional Fallout. In this case, the Investigator takes the Stressed condition, which fills an Inventory Slot. When Stressed, each instance of Stress deals an additional +1. The Stressed condition can be cleared when the Investigator takes a few moments of rest in a safe place to center themself.

For additional alternatives, see the Deluxe Edition Appendix: Conditions (p. x).

GENERAL FALLOUT

1. Caustic Blood. Your blood turns to an acid-like substance. While it does not hurt you, it will harm others. If it makes contact with another being it causes d6 damage.
2. Hunted: You have become entwined with an entity that creeps ever towards you. It never stops, stalking you endlessly until you are dead. It can look like anyone. Only those connected to it (through Fallout, Rituals, cult influence, contract, pact, etc) can see it coming. Ever prepared, increase your HP by d4.
3. Re-Animated: Death will not be able to find you. Whenever you “die” (STR reaches 0) your body will become a Reanimated Dead (see Reanimated Dead in the Deluxe Edition Catalog of the Strange).
4. Exsanguinate: Consuming the blood or flesh from a living host will instantly replenish your HP, even in a risky situation.
5. Behold the Night: Your eyes shift to a dark shade of purple. You are able to perceive unimpeded, even in darkness.
6. Calcification: The bones upon your knuckles and hands harden in sharp spurs. While using them causes your skin to tear, your bare fists deal d6+d6 damage.
7. Chaos Rituals: A connection to the weird has been formed, but it is wild and outside of your control. Once per day you can perform a random Ritual without paying the cost.
8. Resonance: Your attunement to the strange makes you more able to locate and understand the nature of Resonant Artifacts. This boon is especially attractive to those who seek to harness Resonant Artifact for their own means.
9. Plagued by Visions: It comes for you every night, without fail. You do not know if they are from the beginning, or the end. All you know is that they won’t stop, and that they must mean something. After a week of nightmares, tell your Facilitator two distinct images that linger at the edge of your remembering. You gain +1 Stability.
10. Shadow Step: You can step through shadows. Every time you do you leave a bit of yourself behind. On use, your CTRL decreases by d4 (this does not trigger a Save or Fallout).
11. Heavy is the Head: An ethereal crown hangs above your head. It is not visible to all, only a special few. Tales have been told of your coming. Increase your CTRL by d6 (max 18).
12. The Hunt: It becomes harder to ignore the primal impulses that burn deep inside you. Your attacks are Enhanced. You become the primary target of otherworldly Horrors, and their attacks against you are also Enhanced.