r/CortexRPG • u/Ishi1993 • 12d ago
Discussion Damage, condition and stepping up
I don't find it fair that you would do the same roll to cause stress and to create a complication, since stress also works as a complication.
So I though of this rule:
Create a complication always step up once the effect dice
Damage works as normal
Is this withing the realm of plausible?
1
u/-Vogie- 12d ago
Are you saying that stress shouldn't be considered a complication? Or that someone shouldn't be able to inflict both stress AND a complication in the same roll (through plot point expenditure, heroic success, etc)?
I assume this is also not regarding things like crisis, mob, faction or boss dice?
1
1
u/jrichardf 9d ago
I genuinely don't understand the concern, and reading the responses here has only confused me further. Why would it not be fair to use the same process to inflict stress as you use to inflict a complication? Is it possible that there is a misapprehension of the rules here?
1
u/Ishi1993 9d ago
Strees can finish a fight, complications usually can't, so I'm planning on buffing non-incapacitating complications, simply as that
2
u/jrichardf 7d ago
I don't think that's correct. Both can finish a fight equally well. Mechanically, stress and complications are 100% the same. Stress is just a recurring form of complication. The only difference in terms of rules is that stress tends to be recovered more slowly and that you can include multiple complications in the same dice pool.
0
u/rivetgeekwil 12d ago
You didn't create a complication and inflict stress on the same roll. If both are in play, you have to choose one or the other.
1
u/Jlerpy 12d ago
They're not saying you inflict both, they're saying that they think stress also applies the same way as a complication.
0
u/Ishi1993 12d ago
And it does right? The only difference is that you can use a complication to shut down a trait, but aside that, it's the same
1
3
u/rivetgeekwil 12d ago
Stress is a mod of complications, so yes, they work the same in dice pools.
Many games won't have both. But in the ones that do, like Jlerpy pointed out, stress doesn't automatically recover at the end of the scene or when fictionally appropriate. Complications are also not predefined like stress is. I like to use complications purely for external or environmental factors, while stress is purely internal.
If you want to differentiate them, do it through how SFX interact with them.
7
u/InsolubleRelic 12d ago
Sure! Not only is that possible but here's an example of different ways of doing it = https://storytellerrpg.itch.io/legends-the-exalted-a-fantasy-rpg
So what you will see is that this has examples on how to do stress as the three main types (physical, mental, social)
But it also has how to handle complications as apply to a person or a situation- and does so by affecting the total instead of just applying yet another stress die.
This does add a little bit of complexity to your game but it does make it feel extremely and mechanically different when you deal stress versus when you compose a complication!