Stress

Stress represents the negative consequences of conflict and is similar to Health in some ways from the good old days. When heroes and villains fight, the outcome is often determined by how much stress each side inflicts on
the other. There are three types of stress: physical, mental, and emotional. Each type of stress is a trait with a die rating, and that die may be added into the opposition’s dice pool when it would affect your ability to succeed
in what you’re trying to do. Only one type of stress may be added to the opposing dice pool. If you want to add in more, you need to spend 1 Plot Point (as a player) or a Doom die (as the Watcher).

Stress starts out with a die rating equal to the effect die that was used to inflict it, a lot like an asset. If you already have stress of a certain type and take more of it, compare the old and new stress dice - if the new die is larger than the old, replace the old rating with the new. If the new die is equal to or less than the old, step the old die up by one.

Stressing Out and Taking Trauma
Once any type of stress exceeds d12, your hero is stressed out and can’t take any actions or do anything until he recovers with another hero’s aid or in a Transition Scene. He also picks up a d6 of trauma - emotional, mental, or physical, depending on the stress that caused it - that takes longer to recover from. Like stress, trauma can be added to the opposing die pool. If you already have trauma from a previous Scene, you can take more stress of the same type, but only the highest rated die from any specific type is added to your opposition. If you have d10 physical stress and d6 physical trauma, the d10 is added, not the d10 and the d6.

If you’re already stressed out in a Scene and take more stress, it translates directly to trauma. If the new stress is larger than the existing trauma of that type, replace the existing trauma with that rating. If it’s equal to or smaller, step up the trauma by 1. You can spend a Plot Point to shift the stress to a different type, as usual, which may keep your trauma from getting worse. If any kind of trauma is stepped up beyond d12, your hero is dead. This isn’t necessarily the end for him, of course. People in the Marvel Universe have come back from far worse!

Three Types of Stress
Here’s a summary of the three stress types and what trauma of each type means.

• Physical stress is bodily injury, exhaustion, the effects of toxins or chemicals, and so forth. Being stressed out from physical stress means blacking out or becoming unconscious, or perhaps incapable of activity from pain or fatigue. Physical trauma includes serious wounds, broken limbs, system- wide infection, and worse.
• Mental stress is confusion, lack of concentration, mental fatigue, and the results of telepathic assault. Being stressed out from mental stress usually leaves someone insensate, incoherent, or unconscious. Mental trauma includes memory lapses, identity crisis, or impaired reasoning.
• Emotional stress is despair, fear, anger, or any number of negative emotional states. Being stressed out from too much emotional stress means being paralyzed with fear, lost in one’s misery, or consumed with irrational anger. Emotional trauma includes severe phobias, crippling depression, or persistent rage.

Usually, your opposition determines the type of stress you take. If you choose to, you may spend a Plot Point immediately to turn it into a different kind of stress. When you do this, describe how the attack or conflict affected you differently - made you mad, shocked you so much you felt actual pain, or staggered your senses.