Anxiety
Anxiety Damage is an attack upon the mind that interferes with its ability to function normally. Rather than damaging the body, Anxiety disrupts concentration, judgment, confidence, and the ability to make decisions. The victim may know perfectly well what they should do and still find themselves unable to do it as anxiety overwhelms the mind's ability to organize thought and action.
Anxiety can be subtle or overwhelming. A small amount may produce unease, hesitation, or distracting thoughts, while severe Anxiety can cause the mind to turn inward upon itself. The more the victim attempts to anticipate every possible consequence, the more difficult it becomes to act at all. In extreme cases, the mind becomes trapped in its own warnings and objections, effectively paralyzing the victim without causing any physical injury.
Anxiety Sources
Anxiety Damage can come from supernatural effects, cursed objects, or creatures that have evolved to make potential victims fearful and uncertain. Some creatures radiate anxiety as a defensive mechanism, discouraging predators or attackers before a physical confrontation ever begins. Other sources deliberately impose anxiety upon the mind, turning uncertainty and anticipation into weapons.
Examples include:
- Witch's curses that induce persistent or overwhelming anxiety
- Creatures that naturally radiate anxiety as a defensive or predatory ability
- Cursed artefacts that produce anxiety in those who approach, touch, or possess them
- Magical effects that magnify doubt, apprehension, or anticipation
- Psychic or supernatural abilities that interfere with confidence and decision-making
Anxiety Saving Throws
Charisma is the primary Saving Throw against Anxiety Damage. Charisma represents confidence, presence, and the ability to maintain a coherent sense of self in the face of external pressure. Confidence is, in many respects, the natural enemy of anxiety: a character who can trust their own judgment has less room for anxiety to dictate their thoughts and actions.
Will provides a secondary defense. Where Charisma helps defeat anxiety at its source by maintaining confidence, Will allows a character to keep functioning when anxiety has already taken hold. A character with sufficient Will may be frightened, uncertain, or deeply uncomfortable and still force themselves to act.
Anxiety Mitigation
Anxiety can be mitigated by removing or weakening the source of the effect, protecting the mind from its influence, or providing an environment in which the victim can regain control. Because Anxiety can spread through sensory or psychological vectors, identifying how the effect reaches the victim may be as important as resisting the effect itself.
Active forms of mitigation include:
- Anti-curse magic to remove or suppress magical Anxiety
- Limiting the vector through which the Anxiety is transmitted
- Earplugs or other sensory barriers when sound is the means of transmission
- Separation from a cursed artefact producing the effect
- Protective magic or artefacts designed to shield the mind
- Removing the victim from the creature, location, or circumstance producing the Anxiety
- Destroying, disabling, or cleansing the source of the effect
Anxiety Related Conditions
Severe Anxiety can produce Introspective Loop, a condition in which the victim becomes trapped in recursive thought. Every possible action produces another imagined consequence, which produces another question, which produces another possible consequence. The mind continues working, but its thoughts cease to produce useful decisions.
An extreme Introspective Loop can result in Mental Paralysis, leaving the victim conscious but unable to decide upon or initiate an action. In particularly severe cases, overwhelming Anxiety may cause fainting, effectively removing the victim from the situation altogether. Unlike ordinary physical paralysis, these conditions originate entirely within the mind and may leave the body otherwise unharmed.
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