Status Effects
The dangers aren't just fangs and claws. A spectral touch or a whispered curse can be just as deadly. Here's a rundown of the various afflictions both Hunters and their foes might face:
Recurring Damage
Unless its source gives another time, damage described as happening "each turn" occurs at the start of the affected creature's turn, beginning with its next turn after the effect is applied. Applying the status does not deal an extra tick of that damage. Any separate damage from the attack or ability that inflicted it still happens normally.
Burning and Bleeding each deal damage at the next three starts of the affected creature's turns, then end immediately after the third tick. Removing the effect sooner prevents its remaining ticks. Frozen deals its damage at the start of the affected creature's next turn and ends at that turn's end, unless its source says otherwise.
Ending a Status Effect
Most status effects don't last forever. Unless an effect's source states otherwise, a creature can attempt to shake off an affliction at the end of each of its turns by making a check: roll and add the modifier of the attribute most relevant to resisting that effect, as judged by the Overseer (Durability against poison, Charm against terror, Strength against a grapple, and so on). If the result meets or exceeds the Core Threshold (CT) of whatever inflicted the effect, the affliction ends. If the source has no CT, the Overseer sets a Difficulty Threshold instead.
Some effects work a little differently:
- Fixed-duration effects like Burning, Bleeding, and Frozen are not ended by a resisting check. Use their damage and expiry timing above. They can always be cut short by a sensible action such as smothering the flames, binding the wound, or shattering the ice.
- Effects with their own escape rule, such as Grappled and Prone, use that rule instead of the check above.
Finally, any status effect can also be removed for narrative reasons. A well-placed bandage, dousing a Burning ally in water, dragging a Frozen Hunter to a fire, or speaking a word of comfort to the Terrified can all end an effect when the fiction supports it. The Overseer always has the final say on what the story allows.
At the end of a turn, resolve permitted resistance checks before effects that expire at that turn's end. A source's explicit timing takes precedence.
Several effects below leave a creature incapacitated: it cannot move or take actions. Stunned, Frozen, Petrified, and Unconscious all build on this same baseline, each adding its own extra consequences on top. Wherever you see "incapacitated" in a status, it means exactly this.
| Status | Effect |
|---|---|
| Antihealing | Healing effects are entirely negated. |
| Bleeding | The creature bleeds out, becoming weaker and weaker. Deals 1d4 true damage each turn for 3 turns, or until the wound is treated. |
| Blinded | The creature can't see. Its range reduces to 0 ft. and all visual checks automatically fail. |
| Burning | The creature is ablaze, taking 1d6 fire damage each turn for 3 turns, or until the flames are put out. |
| Confused | The creature's mind is scrambled. Its targets and movement directions are randomized. |
| Deafened | The creature can't hear. All audio checks automatically fail. |
| Disarmed | The creature's equipped weapons are dropped on the ground. |
| Enraged | The creature feels a surge of bloodlust, and is compelled to attack the nearest target, even if it's an ally. |
| Frozen | The creature is incapacitated and encased in ice, taking 1d6 cold damage each turn. It breaks free at the end of its next turn. |
| Grappled | The creature's movement is reduced to 0 ft., and it must succeed on an opposed Strength check to escape. |
| Incapacitated | The creature can't move or take actions. |
| Incorporeal | The creature's form becomes ghostly and indistinct, making it impossible to physically interact with. |
| Invisible | The creature fades from view, making it extremely hard to detect or target. They automatically succeed sight based checks and gain +2 HT |
| Mute | The creature cannot speak. |
| Petrified | The creature is turned to stone. It is incapacitated and cannot be moved, but it is immune to all damage while petrified. |
| Poisoned | The creature is poisoned. It takes 1d6 toxic damage each turn. |
| Prone | The creature is lying on the ground and cannot move normally. Standing costs half its current Speed, rounded down, from its remaining movement. |
| Slowed | The creature's speed is reduced by 50%. |
| Stunned | The creature is incapacitated until the end of its next turn. |
| Terrified | The creature's mind is clouded by terror, and it can't move toward the source of its overwhelming fear. |
| Unconscious | The creature is incapacitated, blinded, and deafened. It falls prone and is utterly defenseless. |
For standing from Prone, use current Speed after other applicable penalties, without treating Prone itself as a Speed of 0. You cannot stand if you lack the remaining movement to pay that cost or another effect prevents movement. A Hunter with Speed 30 ft. needs 15 ft. of remaining movement to stand; being Grappled does not make standing free.
Overseer: "David, the eldritch horror reaches out and touches you. Suddenly, you feel a wave of nausea and your limbs go numb."
David: "That can't be good. Am I dying?"
Overseer: "Something like that. Starting from your next turn, you are poisoned. Each turn you'll take 1d6 toxic damage."
Amy: "I think I have a remedy for that. On my turn, I'll use that strange concoction we bought at the haunted carnival."
John: "You sure that's not going to make him worse? We don't want to turn him into some kind of weird tentacle monster... or worse... a clown."