Damage

Damage refers to any time an Actor's Attribute Value is reduced as a result of a Conflict. The Trine Aspect Card played by an Actor determines the Damage Type they will cause if they are successful (Mind does Mind damage, Body does Body damage, and Spirit does Spirit damage).

So how does it make sense that one person in a conflict is trying to punch the other in the face (Body), while another is trying to reason with them (Mind), and a third combatant is trying to persuade both people to stop fighting (Spirit)? And how can talking ever overcome a punch? What does it even mean when your Mind or Spirit are damaged? The short answers to these questions are:

1. Damaging Mind causes an Actor to feel outsmarted and that victory is logically impossible. Damaging Body causes physical harm and /or pain. Damaging Spirit causes an Actor to lose confidence, become afraid, or demoralized.
2. When Mind beats Body in a Conflict, it means that the physical attack failed because the defender predicted where the blow would land logically and avoided it (Reason), or recognized the fighting style and how to counter it (Knowledge), or played a dirty trick to avoid the attack (Quickness). All of these outcomes cause the Actor who played Body to doubt their skill, or worry that their opponent is too cunning to defeat with sheer force (Mind Damage).
3. When Spirit beats Body it means that the physical attacker hesitated because the defender was fearsome, or had enough force of personality to command them to do so (Willpower), or intimidated them, or pled with them to stop (Presence), or somehow guessed what they were going to do before they did it, or just got lucky (Intuition). All of these outcomes cause the Actor who played Body to feel negative emotions, to lose hope, or become despondent (Spirit Damage).

The above examples are not intended to be an all-inclusive list like Perception always does this, or Willpower always does that. Each Attribute encompasses many possible Actions, and Action Tags are only limited by the player's imagination, and players are encouraged to role play Conflict outcomes like those above and weave them into the fabric of the unfolding story of the game. The Action Tags are just guidelines for imagination and role playing.

Tip: just because an Actor played a Mind or Spirit Action doesn't mean they can't use their body. It just means they can't harm their opponent physically. So a wizard casting a spell (Mind) can still use hand gestures, or someone trying to persuade an opponent to stop (Spirit) is still assumed to be dodging an opponent attacking with Body.

The Actor who sustained Damage always determines which Attribute, or Attributes to spread damage among.

• Damage must be subtracted from an Attribute of the Aspect that was played by the Actor who caused the damage (Mind damages Mind, Body damages Body, Spirit damages Spirit).
• Damage can be applied to one Attribute, two Attributes, or spread among all three Attributes within the damaged Aspect.
• AVs cannot go below 0.
• Damage may not be applied to AVs listed as a dash (-) representing the Actor does not possess that Attribute.

Partial TA Damage (missing Attributes)

Damage is dealt to the Aspect, not to empty slots.

• If an Actor has no Attributes at all in the damaged Aspect, they take no damage.
• If the Actor has all three Attributes, apply the full damage.
• If the Actor is missing one or two Attributes in that Aspect, less damage gets through:

• 2 Attributes → ~2/3 of the damage is applied to the remaining 2 Attributes
• 1 Attribute → ~1/3 of the damage is applied to the remaining Attribute

• If any damage gets through, it always applies at least 1 damage.

Assign the final damage among the Attributes that actually exist.

Reducing an Attribute value (AV) as a result of damage reduces the amount of Attribute Tokens that Actor may bid on Actions. An Actor may never bid more than their Trine Score, or their AV, whichever is less.

Example: if an Actor's Body Aspect normally had STR 5, FIT 3, and AGI 4, then their Body TS is 4 (average of 5+3+4). Normally they could bid a maximum of 3 FIT, or 4 STR (capped by TS). But if they had taken 1 FIT damage, they could only bid FIT 2 on an Action.

Whenever one of the nine Actor Attributes are reduced to zero, the Actor is one step closer to unconsciousness. Whenever an Attribute is reduced to zero, an Actor may no longer take Actions that depend on that Attribute (see Action Tags).

If all three Body, Mind, or Spirit Attributes have been reduced to zero, the Actor is Incapacitated. An incapacitated Actor may not take any Actions until at they recover at least 1 AV of the Aspect that was reduced to 0.