Ordinary fear is common and passes without lasting effect. Traumatic fear — brought on by the threat of death or injury, arcane forces, or supernatural occurrences — instead demands a Fear Test: a test against Will.
Critical failures:
CF0vsCF5. A d100 roll whose least-significant digit is 0 or 5 is a critical — a critical success when the roll succeeds, a critical failure when it fails. Where the outcome depends on which critical failure, CF0 (last digit 0) is the more severe and CF5 (last digit 5) the less severe. Several trauma tests — Fear, Morale, and The Pall — draw this distinction.
| Result | State |
|---|---|
| CF0 — Catatonic | Unaware, unable to act, and Helpless (melee attackers score a Critical Success Ignore). At the end of each turn the victim makes another Fear Test; any success improves the state to Terrified, otherwise they retest. Gains +2 PSY (Psyche Stress). |
| CF5 — Terrified | Rooted in place; may respond in combat only with Block or Dodge. On the next turn the victim must flee the source at full Move (or Pass if they cannot). After ten minutes clear of the source they become Steady. Gains +1 PSY. |
| MF — Afraid | May respond in combat only with Block or Dodge, and must flee the source at full Move on the next turn (or Pass). Once clear of the source, a Fear Test on MS/CS makes them Steady (else retest each turn); after one minute clear they become Steady regardless. |
| MS — Steady | Immune to this source of fear (other sources still take effect). |
| CS — Brave | Immune to this source, and gains +20 to all Fear and Morale tests for five minutes. |
When several fear sources are present, only the most severe (most-failed) state affects the victim.