Status Conditions

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Status Conditions

In DnD and Pathfinder, status conditions date all the way back to the mighty Gygax. But old EGG was kind of a jerk, to be honest. (Seriously? A Sphere of Annihilation trap in the FIRST ROOM?! Dick move, man.)

So we are addressing status conditions, with an eye to the overriding point of all gaming: Having Fun.

Frankly, missing an entire combat or gaming session because you rolled a '1' at the wrong time sucks. Bad luck is part of gaming, but bad luck that ruins your fun should not ever have a place at any gaming table that doesn't involve money.

The Status Array

The first thing we did was examine all the status conditions in Pathfinder and categorize them as Strong, Medium, or Weak.

A Strong status condition is a hard control: If you are hit with one of these, you are out of the game. These are things like petrification, stun, and nauseated. You generally lose all your actions and for particularly onerous conditions, you run away screaming like a little girl. Fear sucks.

A Medium status condition is a partial hard control: If you are hit with one of these, you are pretty severely degraded. Things like entangled, grappled, and prone fall here. You generally have a negative modifier to any actions you can take, and you usually lose some portion of your actions.

A Weak status condition is a soft control: They are debuffs to your rolls which make you worse at being an adventurer. Annoying, but not nearly as crippling as a Medium or a Strong status. But be careful, getting several Weak statuses stacked up on you will, indeed, ruin your ability to be effective. Although it can be kinda cool to see a dude keep on operating under a pile of troubles.

In the Status Array, we listed out all the Strong, Medium, and Weak conditions and associated them in ranks of severity. Namely, all Strong conditions now have a 'lesser' version which is a Medium condition, and then a 'least' version which is a Weak condition. In order to make this 'work' we had to add in a few new conditions, such as slowed and phased.

New Conditions

The Status Array has several new status conditions in it. These have been play-tested and are equivalent to the existing conditions.

At-Risk

This allows the DM to, as an optional rule, declare that all monsters and spells which inflict a Strong condition upon a failed save to now inflict the associated Medium condition instead. This removes most cases of 'instant suck' from the game. To maintain balance, Strong conditions also place the victim in an At-Risk state. To resolve At-Risk, use the following progression.

When a condition is applied, if it is a Strong condition, instead bump it down to the associated moderate condition in the Status Array and allow a save at the listed DC. If this is successful, resolve as normal. If this save is failed, the character is affected by the Moderate condition and is At-Risk. An At-Risk character must roll a second save at the end of their NEXT turn against the original DC of the status. If this second save is successful, the Moderate condition changes to the associated Weak condition. If this second save is failed, the Strong condition is applied as normal. The Weak condition gained from At-Risk always lasts one round, ending at the end of the characters next turn.

Similar conditions from any number of sources do not stack, as per the normal rules. It is possible (if your DM hates you) to have multiple At-Risk rolls to make, as long as they are from different rows of the Status Array. All these rolls and effects are resolved separately at whatever DC applies to each one. Note that if two different Strong conditions have the same Medium effect, you are only under the single medium effect but you are still At-Risk for BOTH Strong conditions. Even though under only one Medium effect, you must resolve both At-Risk rolls and suffer the effects of both, which may or may not lead to the same condition again.

Only Strong conditions can place a character At-Risk. A medium or a weak condition which is applied directly from a monster is not affected by these rules, they are only triggered by 'save or suck' Strong conditions.

Spells or abilities which cure the strong status condition also cure the moderate and weak sub-conditions of that condition's array. Creatures immune to a strong condition are generally afflicted with the moderate condition of its array instead. Some abilities, such as the paladin's immunity to fear protect against multiple conditions.

Table: Status Array

Status Condition	Status Array	Effect
Ability damage	Ability damage ==> Bleed ==> Sickened	One or more ability is reduced, leading to other negative effects.
Confused	Confused ==> Prone ==> Flat-Footed	Target treats everyone as an enemy and may attack allies or himself.
Cowering	Cowering ==> Staggered ==> Shaken	Target can take no actions other than wetting pants.
Dazed	Dazed ==> Staggered ==> Dazzled	Target can take no actions. Usually ends automatically after 1 round.
Fascinated	Fascinated ==> Blind ==> Deafened	Target stares off into space and takes no actions.
Frightened	Frightened ==> Staggered ==> Shaken	Target runs away at full speed taking no other actions.
Helpless	Helpless ==> Exhausted ==> Fatigued	Target can take no actions and is subject to coup-de-grace attacks.
Helpless	Helpless ==> Prone ==> Flat-Footed	Target can take no actions and is subject to coup-de-grace attacks.
Level Drain	Level Drain ==> Energy Drain ==> Energy Drain	Target's level is reduced, leading to numerous other penalties.
Nauseated	Nauseated ==> Exhausted ==> Sickened	Target can take no actions other than depositing recent meals onto the floor.
Panicked	Panicked ==> Rattled ==> Shaken	Target drops any held objects and runs away at full speed.
Paralyzed	Paralyzed ==> Entangled ==> Slowed	Target is frozen in place and can take no actions.
Petrified	Petrified ==> Entangled ==> Deafened	Target is turned to stone and becomes more attractive to birds.
Phased	Phased ==> Incorporeal ==> Concealed	Attackers have a 50% miss chance, and the creature takes only 50% damage.
Phased	Phased ==> Invisible ==> Concealed	Attackers have a 50% miss chance, and the creature takes only 50% damage.
Pinned	Pinned ==> Grappled ==> Slowed	Target can only make escape checks.
Stunned	Stunned ==> Rattled ==> Dazzled	Target can take no actions and drops any held objects.

Moderate Status Conditions

Status Condition	Status Array	Effect
Bleed	Ability damage ==> Bleed ==> Sickened
Blind	Fascinated ==> Blind ==> Deafened
Energy Drain	Level Drain ==> Energy Drain ==> Energy Drain
Entangled	Paralyzed ==> Entangled ==> Slowed
Entangled	Petrified ==> Entangled ==> Deafened
Exhausted	Nauseated ==> Exhausted ==> Sickened
Exhausted	Helpless ==> Exhausted ==> Fatigued
Grappled	Pinned ==> Grappled ==> Slowed
Incorporeal	Phased ==> Incorporeal ==> Concealed
Invisible	Phased ==> Invisible ==> Concealed
Prone	Confused ==> Prone ==> Flat-Footed
Prone	Helpless ==> Prone ==> Flat-Footed
Rattled	Panicked ==> Rattled ==> Shaken
Rattled	Stunned ==> Rattled ==> Dazzled
Staggered	Cowering ==> Staggered ==> Shaken
Staggered	Dazed ==> Staggered ==> Dazzled
Staggered	Frightened ==> Staggered ==> Shaken

Weak Status Conditions

Status Condition	Status Array	Effect
Concealed	Phased ==> Incorporeal ==> Concealed
Concealed	Phased ==> Invisible ==> Concealed
Dazzled	Dazed ==> Staggered ==> Dazzled
Dazzled	Stunned ==> Rattled ==> Dazzled
Deafened	Fascinated ==> Blind ==> Deafened
Deafened	Petrified ==> Entangled ==> Deafened
Energy Drain	Level Drain ==> Energy Drain ==> Energy Drain
Fatigued	Helpless ==> Exhausted ==> Fatigued
Flat-Footed	Helpless ==> Prone ==> Flat-Footed
Flat-Footed	Confused ==> Prone ==> Flat-Footed
Shaken	Cowering ==> Staggered ==> Shaken
Shaken	Frightened ==> Staggered ==> Shaken
Shaken	Panicked ==> Rattled ==> Shaken
Sickened	Ability damage ==> Bleed ==> Sickened
Sickened	Nauseated ==> Exhausted ==> Sickened
Slowed	Paralyzed ==> Entangled ==> Slowed
Slowed	Pinned ==> Grappled ==> Slowed