Lingering Effects

26 Jul, 2025

This is a mechanic I think might be interesting in a game where combat should feel punishing, and winning a battle does not guarantee your safety.

Every time you take damage, you mark down a Condition. For simplicity most basic weapon attacks just deal the same Condition: Infection. Some attacks come with special Condition. Psychic damage comes with Paranoia, perhaps. Poison comes with Illness. Zombie and vampire bites come with Turning, which is pretty bad. Similar Conditions do not stack, so you might wind up with a handful of identical Conditions on the list.

These effects don't come into play immediately. Instead, you mark them on your Conditions list. Your Conditions list has a number of slots based on your Constitution score (or equivalent stat if your system doesn't have CON). In a typical d20 game I would give characters a number of slots calculated like so:

When you sleep, roll the die shown in the chart (refer to the above chart). If the result from your list is blank you are spared from any ill effects. If the result is not blank, you are now suffering that Condition (note it down someplace). In either case, remove all the entries from your Conditions list.

If you are hit by an attack but you have no blank slots on your Conditions list, you immediately roll on your list. That Condition takes effect immediately. Remove only that Condition from the list and replace it with the new one.

I would also allow players with relevant skills to attempt to treat these Conditions before they take effect, removing items from the list. Mundane ailments such as Infection or Concussion would be a standard medicine skill check. Mental effects might be charisma or intelligence based. Hauntings and vampire bites might require religious skills. But each treatment requires an hour to attempt, and failure means you lack the skills, and cannot try again.

In a game with magic healing, spells that cure wounds might clear all your physical conditions, while spells that remove curses or dispel evil could be used to remove hauntings, etc.

Examples:

Infection: Your wound is red and discoloured, and your body is feverish. Take 1d4 damage every hour. When you take a long rest you may make a constitution check to see if you throw off this condition.

Fracture: Pain shoots through your body whenever you move. Flip a coin to determine if the fracture affects an arm or a leg. If it's a leg, your movement speed is halved. If it's an arm, you make attack rolls with disadvantage. Make a constitution check every 24 hours to determine if the fracture has healed.

Concussed: You struggle to maintain your train of thought and bright lights hurt your eyes. Knowledge checks and checks involving persuasion or intuition are made with disadvantage for 24 hours.

Haunted: You should not have touched that cursed amulet! A spectral form emerges from the ground and attacks while you're resting. Roll initiative!

Turned: The whites of your eyes yellow and the perfume of death eminates from your flesh. You're an undead monster! You have turned into the type of monster that bit you and gave you this condition.

Withered: Your skin feels thin like paper and your bones feel brittle. Whenever you would take damage, take 1d4 more of the same type.

Paranoid: You struggle to tell friend from foe. All skill checks, attack rolls, and saving throws are made with disadvantage when another creature is within arm's reach.