Editing Technophobia

=Stress=
==Introduction==
STRESS fully replaces pilot HP used in the Core Book. It represents wear and tear experienced by pilots, both physical and mental. It is tracked using an eight-segment clock. Each time a PC takes STRESS, their player fills in a number of segments equal to the amount of STRESS taken. When the clock fills up and a character would take STRESS again, that character is overwhelmed or hurt and becomes [[#BREAKING|broken]]. A character that becomes broken takes some long term harm, called a [[#BURDENS|burden]], and is out of the scene for a short while.

In narrative play, STRESS replaces the concept of damage completely. The stress clock replaces pilots’ HP and ARMOR statistics when not in mech combat.

STRESS represents not only physical harm, but also exhaustion, fatigue, mental or emotional suffering, and so on. As such, PCs can take stress in a range of situations, including ones that aren’t violent or physically dangerous (e.g., social situations, gathering information, etc).
==Taking Stress==
When a PC takes an action that could have harmful consequences, the GM tells their player how much STRESS they could take on a failed or RISKY roll (in Lancer, PCs take consequences on RISKY and HEROIC rolls even when they succeed): they take 1 STRESS for minor consequences, 2 STRESS for typical consequences, and 4 STRESS for major consequences.

''Typical consequences'' are the sort of injuries, exhaustion, and harm that you might expect from dangerous, charged, or stressful situations. Examples include flesh wounds, being beaten up, going a night without sleep, going hungry, or being overworked. **Minor consequences** are less dramatic versions of these, like tiredness, minor injuries and bruises, etc.

''Major consequences'' are more severe sorts of harm –direct hits from enemy guns without armor on, hits from heavy weapons, serious deprivation, days without rest, exposure to the elements, and brutal beatings.

PCs shouldn’t take STRESS on every failed or complicated roll, just the ones where harm has been established as a consequence (i.e., dangerous, violent, or stressful situations). STRESS should never be inflicted for rolls that don’t have any direct consequences, such as downtime actions or gathering information.

Much like HP, STRESS doesn’t always represent direct bodily harm, but usually the energy and exhaustion inflicted for avoiding it. For example, Ignacio rolls to sneak past some guards. The GM tells Ignacio that if the guards spot him, they’ll shoot on sight. Ignacio fails the roll, and they shoot at him, dealing him 2 STRESS. It doesn’t matter (in narrative terms) whether they actually hit him or not, just that he takes STRESS.

Characters can take STRESS in situations where direct physical harm might not even be possible, such as charged social situations and during intense physical exertion. 

===Example===
;A PC is tracking an assassin through the wilderness. They roll a mixed success on a RISKY roll and are able to follow the assassin’s trail, but push themself hard to keep up, tiring them out and taking 1 STRESS. Some PCs ;are trying to get the local trade representative to lift a harmful trade embargo that’s leaving thousands starving. They fail and take 2 STRESS from the mentally and emotionally taxing effort.

== PUSH==
In narrative play, PCs can push themselves on any skill check by taking 1 STRESS, gaining +1 ACCURACY to the check. They can also push themselves to help an allied character the same way, taking 1 STRESS and adding +1 ACCURACY to that person’s roll, as long as it makes sense within the fiction. Anyone helping on a roll also takes consequences or complications as a result 
of that roll. This replaces the rules for helping other characters on skill checks in Lancer.
PCs can also push failed non-risky rolls into RISKY rolls (see Lancer, p. 45) at the cost of 1 STRESS.
==HEALING STRESS==
At the start of downtime, each PC clears 5 STRESS, but clears 1 less STRESS for each burden they have (so a PC with 2 burdens only clears 3 STRESS). Breaking also causes a PC to clear all STRESS.
== BREAKING==
If a PC is at their maximum STRESS (typically 8 STRESS) and they take STRESS again, they break. They are too hurt, too overwhelmed, or too consumed by their emotions to continue. They clear all STRESS, but are narratively removed from the scene, either incapacitated, unconscious, or out of control. They return at the start of the next scene and gain a burden.

In narrative play, breaking replaces the concept of DOWN AND OUT from Lancer (p. 49). Characters can still go DOWN AND OUT in mech combat. 
== EVERYONE IS BROKEN==
If, in the rare case, all PCs break during a scene, they are defeated (as if they had all gone DOWN AND OUT). The GM moves the narrative to a new scene and determines what happens to them, depending on the tone of the campaign. Heroic characters in fiction rarely die ignominiously, but often barely escape. If you’re out of ideas, consider ways the PCs might be captured or badly injured but still escape with their lives.
== BURDENS==
A burden represents long-term harm to a PC, either physical or mental. They can only be received by breaking. The nature of the burden depends, narrat�ively, on what happened that made the PC break. It could be a lasting injury, persistent stress, or even harmful emotions that need to get sorted out. Whatever it is, the player writes it down under one of the three 
burden clocks on their bond sheet. 

The bond sheet has spaces for three burdens: two minor burdens and one major burden. Minor 
burdens have 4 and 6 segments, the major burden has 10. When gaining a new burden, the player can pick any of these.

When a PC makes a skill check, their player can invoke a relevant burden to gain +1 DIFFICULTY on the roll. For example, a player whose character has a “broken leg” burden can invoke it when they are attempting a difficult climb. Players who do this at least once during a session gain +1 XP at the end.
== MAXIMUM BURDENS==
PCs with three burdens can still break, but they don’t gain any new burdens. These breaks are especially bad. Not only is the PC taken out of the scene, but instead of clearing all STRESS, they only clear 2 STRESS. On top of this, the break is harmful to everyone else present, inflicting 1 STRESS on each PC present, potentially causing them to break, too.

== HEALING BURDENS==
At the start of downtime, every character (simultaneously) gets a special free downtime action: **Heal Burdens**. Each player chooses a method for healing, then rolls a skill check, filling in 1–3 segments on a burden of their choice (depending on the result). A result of 1–9 fills in one segment, 10–19 fills in two, and 20+ fills in three.

If you like, you can play out a scene showing how the characters are working on lifting their burdens. A method for healing could be anything that helps your character relieve stress, unwind, or (literally) heal their wounds. It could be spending time at the ship clinic, or at the bar. It could be journalling alone, sparring in the gym, tuning up your mech to blow off steam, or 
barbecuing with the base crew.

When a burden’s clock is filled up, it’s lifted and the PC is free from it, gaining 1–2 XP, depending on the length of the clock. PCs can forgo their own healing to help someone else with theirs. If they do so, they don’t get the free action to heal burdens, but the character they are helping fills 
in an additional segment of their burden clock. A PC can only benefit from the assistance of one other character at a time.