Stress Rules

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Madness and despair—the preface of doom. Watch your back, for little of this damnable place can be trusted.

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Mercenary work, especially when dealing with the unknowable entities from beyond, can be physically and mentally taxing. Without proper care and rest, Player Characters risk cracking under the stress and strain. When such breaks in the mind occur, the character exposes themselves to physical threats as well.

Stress

All Player Characters have a value referred to as Stress. This value starts at 0 during the beginning of the campaign, but can be increased by various factors over the course of play. A Player Character has a Stress Maximum dependent on their background and class features. Most PCs will start with a Stress Maximum of 20.
A character’s stress maximum and Stress Threshold can vary. By default, a character’s Stress maximum is 20, and their threshold is 10. Unless specified otherwise, a character’s Stress Threshold is half their stress maximum. Certain backgrounds and other features, however, may change a character’s stress maximum and threshold.

Roleplaying Stress

Characters that have yet to receive an affliction from stress have not accumulated enough be be consistently lashing out. With an affliction, though, a character is strained enough to display symptoms of their stress openly.
Proper roleplaying of stress isn’t a requirement in all technicalities—all players are free to roleplay to their level of comfort. However, the DM may award inspiration by proper roleplay of the character’s affliction or how they try and overcome their stress.