Exertion

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Exertion

Exertion is the character’s capacity to push beyond ordinary limits. Fatigue, hunger, and thirst all map into this single measure when management fails.

It is primarily player-controlled: when to push, when to rest, and where to spend will. Narrative events (starvation, forced marches, prolonged fighting) can also drain it without a voluntary spend.

Pool size

Maximum Exertion = Resolve + Constitution + Charisma

Spending

• Spend 1 Exertion to add one extra die to any dice pool.
• With a matching Echo, you may spend a second Exertion die on that roll (normal limit is one).
• Dying characters must spend Exertion on every roll; death follows when the pool hits zero while Dying.

The cart is hung on a stony ford. The oxen will not pull; the water is rising. The player decides this is worth the cost: they dig in, spend Exertion, and put one more die into the pool. The die tier does not change — they are not better situated, only more committed.

1. Exertion pool before: 2 / 6.
2. Roll: Strength + Animal Handling, d8; spend 1 Exertion → one extra die in the pool.
3. Pool after: 1 / 6. Result: 3 Marks — the cart comes free before the current takes it.
4. If the pool later hits 0: every dice pool is −2 dice (minimum 1). The character can still act; every action simply costs more than it should.

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Replenishment

The sheet tracks the current pool. After the fiction of a rest is settled, the Storyteller restores Exertion on the desk, separately from Harm recovery — narrative first, then state. The suggestions below are counsel for the number they type.

Suggested awards:

Condition	Effect
Short rest	+1
Long rest	+2
Plentiful meal	+1 on top of rest awards
No food or water	−1 from the rest award

Inventory food and water days inform whether those awards apply cleanly.

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Depletion

When the pool reaches zero, the character suffers a standing –2 to the size of every dice pool. This penalty never reduces a pool below 1 die. The character can still act; every action simply costs more than it should until they recover.

Empty Exertion is not unconsciousness. It is the point at which every action costs more than it should. Characters who continue to push while empty are living on nerve and stubbornness alone.

Exertion can also be depleted by pure narrative events — lack of food or water, or a prolonged skirmish. Do not assume the pool is full when the fiction says otherwise.

Practice link

Practice from Marks on Skills accrues only when Exertion was spent — win or loss. An opposed loss also adds +2, which stacks with that Marks award. Unopposed struggle (more failures than Marks) still awards +2 without Exertion. Effort is part of learning.

Related: Human Potential, Dice Mechanics, Automation.

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