Fatigue

Combat, sprinting, climbing, and swimming against a strong current, are all examples of when a character can become fatigued and tired.

If the Referee rules that a character has been doing an activity that may have drained them of physical energy, then they may call for a Resilience roll. If the character fails the roll, they suffer the effects of Fatigue (see below).

This test happens after the activity is complete, unless the activity is long and drawn out, and there is a real danger that Fatigue will stop the task. For example, on a long hard march, the characters are pressing on ahead so that they can reach a fort before an enemy army arrives there. In this case, there is a real danger that they will arrive not only too late but tired and worn down.

The Effects of Fatigue

If a character fails the Resilience test, then they become fatigued.  All skill tests are at -20%. Also, movement rate drops by a quarter. The character also becomes sluggish, DEX and INT are each reduced by three points.

If the fatigued character insists on engaging in heavy activity, such as combat, heavy labour or running, then another Resilience roll is made at -20%. If the character fails this second skill test, fatigue level becomes heavily fatigued, with the above penalties increased to -50%.

If a character fumbles any of their Resilience rolls, then they immediately fall unconscious for 3D6 minutes and upon waking are still fatigued.

Recovering from Fatigue

A character who completely rests for 20-CON hours will remove the effects of any Fatigue.

A Vigour spell (see Personal Magic) will also remove the effects of Fatigue.

Exposure, Starvation and Thirst

A character can normally survive for several hours equal to their CON before suffering from exposure.

A character can survive for several days equal to their CON before becoming starved, though after three days they will begin to suffer a –20% penalty to Fatigue tests.

A character can survive for a number of hours equal to their CON x 2 before becoming chronically thirsty, though particularly arid environments may reduce this to CON x 1 or even CON x ½. Whenever a character is suffering from exposure, starvation or thirst, the Fatigue test penalty immediately changes to –20%. Also, the character will automatically suffer D6 damage every day, for every condition they are experiencing. Natural or magical healing will not heal this damage – only sufficient shelter, food or water can remedy the problem and allow natural or magical healing to take place.