When in a game, you will be faced with various debilitating and harmful effects. Some come from being blinded or deafened, others come from the forces of nature harming you.
When someone is bleeding profusely, they are counted as being affected by bleed. For each round passed on the listed duration, the person bleeding takes the listed damage (if it's a die roll of bleed damage, don't re-roll the damage per round. Just deal the same amount as before again). Bleed is negated by any form of magical healing, or a DC 20 Heal check.
Characters who are unable to see for some reason or another. They lose their Dexterity to Reflex Defense and take a -2 Reflex Defense, are unable to make sight-based Awareness checks, have a 50% chance of missing opponents, and finally only move at half speed.
Only items can be broken. If it is broken, it is unusable until someone has made the proper Artisan skill check to repair it. Common items are usually a DC 5, Weapons and Armor are a DC 10, complex mundane items are a DC 15, etc.
Confusion can either be from a magical effect, or something like a poison. A confused target has a 50% chance of harming themselves, an ally, or do absolutely nothing. The failure effects all depend on the type of poison used. Magical confusion allows the caster to choose from the effects listed. Insanity is a greater form of confusion, and instead causes the target to have a 50% chance of attacking allies and is permanent until otherwise cured through magic or other remedies.
A cowering character is in an extreme state of fear. They cannot take any actions, are prone, and lose their Dexterity to Reflex Defense.
Characters who are dazed are unable to act, but take no other penalties.
A character who is deafened takes a -4 to Initiative, is unable to make sound-based Awareness checks, and has a 20% chance of failure with casting spells (unless they are Psychic or otherwise don't require ones voice).
An exhausted character takes a -4 penalty to any Strength or Dexterity based check (including attacking if it relies on Strength or Dexterity). In addition they cannot charge and move at half speed. After an hour of rest, an exhausted character is instead fatigued. A fatigued character becomes exhausted if they do something that would fatigue them.
Fatigue imposes a -2 penalty to any Strength or Dexterity based check (including attacking if it relies on Strength or Dexterity). Doing anything that would fatigue an already fatigued character instead makes them exhausted. After 8 hours of rest (including sleeping), the character recovers from fatigue.
When a character is taken by surprise or is attacked by a character in stealth, they remove their Dexterity to Reflex Defense. Flat-footed is applied in a surprise round, and a character who is flat-footed can’t take attacks of opportunity while in this state. On the first round of combat if a character hasn't acted yet, they're considered flat-footed.
A frightened character runs from their source of fear as best as possible. If they are unable to flee, they fight to the best of their abilities. A frightened character takes a -2 to attacks, skill checks, and their will defense. A frightened character can use anything they have on them that assists escaping. Frightened is a more severe effect of shaken.
Nauseated characters are only able to take a move action per round.
A panicked character drops everything they’re holding, and runs from the source of their fear and cannot fight back even when cornered. They cannot take any other actions, however if they have spells or abilities that assist in fleeing, they can use them. Panicked is more extreme than Shaken or Frightened.
Paralyzed characters are helpless, yet don't take penalties to their Reflex Defense.
A character is turned to stone, and considered unconscious. If a petrified character is shattered, they die unless the attack made against them (+0 if nobody attacked them) exceeds their Fortitude Defense by 5. If the attack doesn't bypass their Fortitude Defense by 5, it only deals 2d8 points of damage.
A character who is shaken takes -2 to attack, skill checks, and saving throws. Shaken is a less severe condition of panicked or frightened. Intimidate checks against a target's Will Defense causes them to be shaken.
A character who is sickened takes a -2 on all d20 checks. Sickened is a less severe version of nauseated, however the two can stack together.
A character that’s staggered can only take a single move or standard action per round. A staggered character can still take swift, free, and immediate actions.
A character that is stunned drops everything held, loses Dexterity to Reflex Defense and takes a -2 to their Reflex Defense.
A character that’s unconscious is prone and helpless. Unconsciousness occurs from either being knocked to negative hit points due to lethal damage, or being brought to 0 HP due to nonlethal damage.
Unless a character is immune or resistant to cold damage, being exposed to cold weather has a risk for those in it. An unprotected character in a cold environment (below 40 degrees Fahrenheit) takes 1d6 points of cold damage per round if they are hit by an attack to Fortitude Defense (+4 Attack, +1 for every minute unprotected in the cold). The cold damage is nonlethal, however if it brings the sufferer of the cold damage to 0 HP due to the nonlethal damage, the target henceforth takes lethal cold damage and will die. They are rendered unconscious when brought to -1 HP due to the nonlethal cold damage.
An unprotected character in a freezing environment (below -20 degrees Fahrenheit) instantly begins taking 1d8 lethal cold damage per minute unless the attack to Fortitude Defense (+4 Attack, +1 for every minute unprotected in the cold) to 1d6 nonlethal cold damage instead, using the cold environment above for 10 minutes in-game time.
A character walking on ice may only move in straight lines, however they gain a +1 square move speed while doing so. Alternatively they can move at half speed without moving in a straight line, however they gain no bonus to their move speed from the ice, or any outside effects.
Areas with no light or very minimal light are considered dark. Characters without Darkvision can only see 3 squares in front of them (or lower at the GM’s discretion) and characters with Darkvision can see up to how far their Darkvision reaches.
Total darkness means a character without Darkvision cannot see at all, and those with Darkvision have the effects of Darkvision cut in half.
Heat, such as that from an incredibly hot desert, deals nonlethal damage over time. Once a character has taken an amount of nonlethal damage from heat that it’d bring them to 0 HP, all further damage is lethal. Use the rules for a cold environment for heat rules, except hot conditions are 90 degrees Fahrenheit, and extreme heat is 140 degrees Fahrenheit and above.
Any character can wade in calm water that isn’t over their head, no checks required. Similarly, swimming in calm water only requires a DC 10 Acrobatics check. Trained swimmers can just take 10. Remember, however, that armor and being encumbered causes penalties to accumulate on their Swim check.
By contrast, fast-moving water is much more dangerous. Characters must make a DC 15 Acrobatics check to avoid going under. On a failed check, the character takes 1d3 points of nonlethal damage per round (1d6 if flowing over rocks and cascades).
Very deep water is not only generally pitch black, posing a navigational hazard, but worse, deals 1d6 water pressure damage per 20 sq. the character is below the surface. Very cold water deals 1d6 points of nonlethal cold damage due to hypothermia per minute of exposure.