I'm mulling over tying this condition track directly to a hitbox system, where everything has 10 hitboxes and what condition they're at is dependent on what boxes have been filled, (like what Shadowrun does). So if you have X amount of boxes filled you're always 'staggered'. There's also 'temp damage' that fills up boxes but goes away after a round or so, like being struck by a color spray so someone at full hitboxes will merely be staggered for a round but someone with only one hitbox left would be KO'd for that round then return to their already dazed state.Tier I: Shaken
"The ogre’s hammering blows shook Ragnar to the bone."
A shaken character...
takes a -2 penalty on attack rolls, defense, skill checks, and ability checks.
Tier II: Staggered
"Ragnar staggered as his belly twisted in a knot, the pie had gone bad..."
A staggered character...
takes a -4 penalty on attack rolls, defense, skill checks, and ability checks
Tier III: Dazed
"The spray of color from the beguiler's palm stunned Ragnar"
A stunned character...
takes a -6 penalty on attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks
Reduce speed by 1/2
Tier IV: Stunned
"Ragnar locked eyes with the Lich and was dazed with fear"
A dazed character...
suffer everything from stunned but also...
Loses all their actions (but still sensory aware)
Tier V: Unconscious
*fall prone
*no sensory awareness
Tier VI: "He's dead Jim"
The three damage types are...
Lethal: requires treatment to heal (sword, fireball)
Stun: goes away with rest (exhaustion, nonlethal blunt trauma)
Temp: disappears within rounds (demoralized, dazzled)
Working alongside this track are supplementary conditions:
This next group of conditions deal with sensory, physical, mental restraint and use an advantage/disadvantage reroll mechanic:Repulsed
*Cannot move toward source of repulsion
Terrified
"Ragnar met the death knight's gaze and fled in terror"
*Must move from line of sight of source of terror (such as cowering behind cover) at combat speed or greater.
Lured
*Must move towards source of compulsion at combat speed or greater
Dominated
"My hips are moving on their own!"
*Lose control of character.
*Depending on how defiant the dominated character is they may suffer effects on the condition track to show their resistance. So the chaste paladin heroically struggling against the Incubus's seduction is stunned but the ranger all lovey dovey towards the dryad is merely shaken.
Jolted (also works for holding slippery objects)
*Make a check or drop held object
Anchored
*Cannot move X distance away from anchoring point, if anchoring point is moved you move with it
*Anchoring is caused by a physical restraint (chained, grappled) or magical effect
So being physically and cognitively restrained makes you more vulnerable to physical attack, but you have to mentally restrain people to get advantage on attacking their mind.Restrained/Entangled/Off Balance (such as on greased ground)
*character grants advantage
*suffers disadvantage on attack rolls, physical saving throws, physical skill/ability checks
*cannot charge or run without risk of falling prone
Sensory Disabled
Having a sense disabled causes automatic failure in checks that use those senses
Blind (sight)
Deaf (hearing)
Anosmic (scent)
Numb (touch)
Confused (mental): character grants advantage to mental attacks against them
Losing one’s primary sense (for humans it’s sight, for bats its hearing, etc.) also inflicts further penalties
*character grants advantage to physical attacks
*suffers disadvantage on attack rolls, physical saving throws, relevant skill/ability checks
*cannot charge or run without risk of falling prone
I figure moves like "Petrify" are more like a fancy effect to put over killing someone, so I'm not sure if it should be called a 'condition'. I guess I can make a list of 'dead' effects like turning to stone or having your soul stolen. I also figure things like filling up someone's hitboxes with demoralization damage shouldn't KO or kill people, but instead set a status effect like "surrender"
Any glaring omissions in this list?