Attributes

*Following is an excerpt from Corin’s Darksun. “The Terrible Truth” is replaced with “Forbidden Knowledge”. “Rising Tide” is replaced with “Lullaby”. "The Lowest Place" is replaced with "Xurua".*

Attributes are qualities your character can attain while traversing Xurua. They most commonly track injury and other negative status conditions such as sickness or exhaustion, but can also be measures of supernatural power, resilience, or more esoteric things. With one exception, they run from 0-10, usually having a special effect that triggers at 10 of any one quality.

The most commonly encountered Attributes, as listed in the prior section, are:

* Stress, a tracker of psychic and mental damage or distress, usually incurred by failing a roll against an enemy’s Will attack.
* Bruise, a tracker of blunt force damage, usually incurred by failing a roll against an enemy’s Forceful attack.
* Bleed, a tracker of cuts, scrapes and blood loss, usually incurred by failing a roll against an enemy’s Guile attack.

By default, if you choose to make an unmodified, unarmed attack against another person, you will almost always inflict 1 point of one of these Attributes on success. Punching, shoving and kicking will almost always inflict Bruise; biting and clawing will almost always inflict Bleed; efforts to demoralize, intimidate or confuse will almost always inflict Stress. When armed with a basic weapon such as a staff or knife, you will usually inflict 2 points instead of the usual 1. Stress is less easily quantifiable, and it is more difficult to inflict Stress damage with a basic attack, but many of the most powerful abilities and enemies in the game use Will and inflict Stress. Stress may also be passively inflicted by terrifying, nauseating or incomprehensible enemies or locations, even though they have not landed a physical attack on your character.

When you reach 10 in any of these three Attributes, any further points you take in that Attribute instead become points taken in a different, more severe Attribute. If you have Stress 9, for instance, but would take Stress 2, your Stress becomes 10, and the remaining point becomes a point of the advanced quality “Unstable”. Similarly, Bruise overflows into Broken, and Bleed overflows into Wound. These qualities represent more significant, longer-term injuries that are actively debilitating and harder to recover from, requiring advanced healing or long rest periods to fix.

If you would pass 10 in any of Unstable, Broken or Wound, you instead take points of a third Attribute: Dying. Dying can be gained from all three of these Attributes overflowing; if you have Unstable 9 and Broken 9, for example, and would take Unstable 2 and Broken 2, you would take Dying 2. At Dying 10, your story ends. Dying is extremely difficult to heal, and represents a more general closeness to death than the other basic Attributes.

Points of these Attributes can overflow twice with a single attack. For instance, if you have Stress 9 and Unstable 9, and take Stress 3, your Stress and Unstable will both become 10, and you will take Dying 1. It is not possible under normal circumstances to have more than 10 points in any of these qualities.

Stress, Unstable, Bruise, Broken, Bleed, Wound and Dying are sometimes collectively referred to as “Damage”. If a mechanic refers to Damage, it refers to all of these Attributes as a group, and does not refer to other Attributes.

There are many other Attributes that you may come across in the Lowest Place. They’re not all bad - just most of them. Many Attributes have complex or compounding effects that can stack to make it exceptionally difficult to survive, leading to your character reaching a point where their end becomes inevitable.

## ATTRIBUTE LIST

The following is an incomplete list of Attributes and their function, although some details may not be present.

FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE

*It worms its way into your head, in a way you cannot stop, and hangs leaden around your soul. You are tainted by that perfect knowledge - there is no relief, and no release.*

Gain 1 when you intuit knowledge you should not have. [10]: Uncover the nightmare.

HOPEFUL

*Even down here there is light.*

Any time you would take Lullaby, reduce that Lullaby by Hopeful. You may spend Hopeful in exchange for a variety of positive effects.

LULLABY

*In time, all things return to her.*

Gain 1 every day, or more if things go badly. [100]: Your story ends, and nothing can stop it.

STRESS

*The sky.*

[10]: If you would take Stress, take Unstable instead.

BLEED

*The sea.*

[10]: If you would take Bleed, take Wound instead.

BRUISE

*The land.*

[10]: If you would take Bruise, take Broken instead.

UNSTABLE

*The thunder.*

Your Guile is always -Unstable. [10]: If you would take Unstable, take Dying instead.

WOUND

*The drowning.*

Your Forceful is always -Wound. [10]: If you would take Wound, take Dying instead.

BROKEN

*The flame.*

Your Will is always -Broken. [10]: If you would take Broken, take Dying instead.

DYING

*The stars.*

[10]: Your story ends.

INDOMITABLE

*In the Land of Perfect Bliss there are seven rows of balustrades, seven rows of decorative nets, and seven rows of arrayed trees, all made of four kinds of jewels.*

When you would take Stress, reduce that Stress by Indomitable.

ARMOURED

*In the Land of Perfect Bliss there are many pools of seven kinds of jewels, full of water with the eight excellent qualities. The bottoms of the pools are covered entirely with sands of gold.*

When you would take Bleed, reduce that Bleed by Armoured.

JUGGERNAUT

*In the Land of Perfect Bliss there is always celestial music to be heard. The ground is of gold, and six times a day, mandarava flowers gently rain down from the sky.*

When you would take Bruise, reduce that Bruise by Juggernaut.

TORMENT

*It shouldn't be this hard to forget.*

Once per day, spend Hopeful 1 or take Stress=Torment. Then lose Torment 1.

CONVULSE

*There's a drumming, and it's faster every moment.*

Once per day, spend Hopeful 1 or take Bruise=Convulse. Then lose Convulse 1.

HAEMORRHAGE

*The painter paints in red, dipping his brush to your veins.*

Once per day, spend Hopeful 1 or take Bleed=Haemorrhage. Then lose Haemorrhage 1.

DREAD

*Fear me.*

When a sentient being who has Terror less than your Dread enters your presence, they must roll against your Will + their Terror. On failure, their Terror becomes equal to your Dread, and they cannot lose Terror while in your presence.

TERROR

*Run.*

Each time you spend Hopeful, you must spend additional Hopeful equal to your Terror. Lose Terror 1 every hour.

INERTIA

*It catches up with us all.*

Gain 1 when you feel a profound exhaustion. [5]: Once per day, when you would use a daily heal unimpeded, instead that daily heal is impeded. [10]: You come to a halt. Your story ends.