Nobody bleeds out in this valley. They just stop getting their breath back.
One tag system covers players and monsters alike — the dungeon obeys the same rules you do. Conditions stack (re-applying adds a stack and refreshes the duration), and each lasts either until cleansed or until your next activation, as noted.
Wind-Denial (the kill conditions)
| Condition | Effect |
|---|---|
| Poison | Denies all Wind recovery — the activation refill, the Rally refill, every restoring trick |
| Fatigue | The same denial, earned by the crawl itself — attrition made mechanical |
| Winded | The same denial, short-lived — usually self-inflicted by overexertion |
Wind-denial is how fights actually end. A fight rarely ends because numbers got big; it ends because someone stopped recovering. Elites with Poison stacked on them stop getting their breath back too — attrition cuts both ways.
Chip (damage over time)
| Condition | Effect |
|---|---|
| Burn | At your activation start: lose 1 Fortitude, then one stack fades |
| Bleed | The same, drawn in red |
Chip conditions eat Wind first, then Guard — never Vitals: a tick can Stagger you, but it cannot kill you. The Hedge-Mage’s stock-in-trade; fire crits Ignite.
Dice (Boons and Banes made persistent)
| Condition | Effect |
|---|---|
| Mark | Every ally gains a Boon attacking the marked target (per stack) |
| Exposed | Attackers gain a Boon against you (per stack); the fumble’s price |
| Bolstered | Banked Boons — spent on your next swing, hit or miss |
| Hidden | Unseen: +1 Boon attacking from the dark; attacking reveals you, hit or miss |
| Shaken | Bane on your attacks; nerve, going |
| Slowed | Bane on your attacks; body, failing |
| Guard (stance) | Braced: attacks against you take a Bane; enables the Warden’s tricks |
Tempo (actions and the window)
| Condition | Effect |
|---|---|
| Staggered | Fortitude at zero — the window is open; see 03 The Stagger Window |
| Suppressed | A Staggered target’s next Rally is denied; consumed by the Rally it denies |
| Stunned | Your next activation is skipped entirely (you still Rally and refill first) |
| Frenzied | +1 Break on your attacks — stronger, and not safer to be near |
Resisting and Cleansing
- Resolve resists Shaken, Stun, and Poison.
- Steady clears one of your own conditions. Bolster can clear an ally’s Shaken. Second Wind cleanses yourself before it refills — it can strip the very Poison that would choke it.
- Benediction (Devout) clears any cleansable condition on an ally — including the Wind-deniers that actually end runs.