The Pall is the most dangerous Trauma a character can face. Where other trauma assails Will or Initiative, the Pall tests Spirit in a struggle for the character’s soul. It emanates from the forces of death and chaos, corrupts mortals into the undead Helspawn, can infuse beings and objects alike, and can be summoned by death-cult priests.
Pall Strength
Every entity or object harboring the Pall has a Pall Strength (PAL) score. Touching or being touched by a Pall entity imparts the full PAL; every 5 feet (or fraction) reduces it by 1, and below zero it has no effect. Natural daylight lowers PAL by 2 and twilight by 1; indoors or firelight at night has no effect. Multiple sources overlap into a single summed rating.
Resisting the Pall
Anyone in an affected area tests Spirit at the start of their turn (entities with their own Pall Strength are exempt), applying a Pall Depth penalty equal to 5 × the total PAL affecting them. (For the CF0/CF5 split, see Fear.)
| Result | Effect |
|---|---|
| CF0 — Catatonic | Gains 3 Stress Levels. Unaware and unable to move, act, or defend. A success next turn forces them to flee as if terrified; failure keeps them catatonic and adds 1 SL (retest each turn). |
| CF5 — Terrified | Gains 2 Stress Levels. Flees the source at full Move; no Counterstrike defenses. Takes 1 SL per round while still within the Pall. Cleared after ten minutes safe from the source. |
| MF — Disturbed | Gains 1 Stress Level. Must move out of the effect, taking 1 SL per round until clear, then cleared. |
| MS — Resist | Immune to all sources of the Pall for one round. |
| CS — Immune | Immune to all sources for ten minutes. |
The Pall Cloud
Accruing Pall Stress Levels (PSL) — the Pall Cloud — afflicts the character in body and mind. It darkens and blurs vision and slows movement: a PSL × 5 penalty to vision-based Perception tests and Agility tests, and PSL × 10 to Dodge, Move, and Stealth. About ten minutes after first taking PSL in an encounter, the character gains a permanent psyche trauma (or an existing one intensifies).
Pall Recovery
Characters recover automatically but slowly, making Will tests every d6 days — still suffering the Pall Cloud penalties throughout. Exorcism can grant a bonus.
| Result | Outcome |
|---|---|
| CF (−1) | Face the Pall — choose one of the three fates below. |
| MF (0) | Unconscious — no change to PSL; the character falls and stays unconscious until PSL reach 0. |
| MS (1) | −1 PSL — at 0 the Pall is expelled and its penalties vanish (the permanent psyche condition remains). |
| CS (2) | −2 PSL — at 0 the Pall is expelled; if the condition was newly acquired, it improves from Permanent to Indefinite (gain d3 PSY and begin Psyche Stress Recovery). |
Reaching 0 PSL without ever rolling a CS keeps the condition permanent; a single CS during recovery makes it indefinite instead. Any character who dies while carrying Pall Stress Levels must immediately Face the Pall, as if they had rolled a CF.
Facing the Pall
When the Pall cannot be expelled, it corrupts the body, and the forces of death force the soul into one of three choices — always the victim’s to make, since not even death and chaos can demand undeath:
- Embrace the Pall — the soul is imprisoned in the shadow region of the Spirit realm; the body persists as an undead Nightwight.
- Vacate the Body — the soul unanchors into an active Shade; the empty body can be puppeted as a mindless Helthraal.
- Accept True Death — the soul departs to the afterlife; the decaying body allows only a brief moment of control as a Helthraal.