The four gauges

Vitality

Your health in this fight, shown in green.

• It is the same for everyone. No attribute, trait or item raises it. A fight is decided by what lands, not by who has the bigger bar.
• At zero you are knocked out. You fall, and you take a share of Wounds. The higher your rank, the smaller that share.
• Knocked out is not defeated. You can struggle back up where you fell.

Stamina

Your body, shown in amber.

• Sprinting and physical techniques spend it.
• Blunt hits drain it.
• At zero you cannot sprint, and your Guard stops protecting you: hits go straight to Vitality.
• It comes back on its own and faster when you rest.

Nimis

Your energy, shown in blue. There are two parts.

• Active Nimis is what techniques spend.
• The Reservoir is the deeper store behind it. To refill your active Nimis you stand still and charge, drawing from the Reservoir.
• An empty Reservoir cannot be charged from. Cast past that point and the unpaid cost comes out of your Stamina, then your Vitality. This is the Nimis Overdraft.
• The Reservoir refills when you rest at a bench or a bed, or from an elixir, or from a Medic who gives you some of theirs.

Wounds

The damage that stays, shown in wine.

• Each knockout adds to it.
• Past half, you run more slowly.
• At full, the next knockout is a defeat. You return to your Citadel after a short wait, having lost most of the gold you carried and some standing, with the defeat marked on your record. You keep your items.
• Wounds heal slowly: by resting, with a bandage, or at the hands of a Medic.

A defeat is never the end of a character. Only old age ends a life.

While you are down

A knocked-out body cannot be hurt, but it can be dragged. An ally can pull you out of danger, and an enemy can pull you somewhere worse to wake up. Standing up breaks the drag at once.