Stress

Characters may face everything from minor distractions to overwhelming adversity, and sometimes these events incur stress. Stress represents the emotional consequences of living through hardship, and negatively impacts a character's ability to function.

The gain, loss, and maintenance of stress defines a lot of a character's personality. Some may freak out over the slightest provocation, others retreat to comfortable situations until they feel better, and a dangerous few bottle everything up until they finally snap.

A character subtracts their current stress points from all tests and contests except for their DV, AT, and MA.

Gaining Stress
Characters may gain stress in a number of ways. If the character gains stress points because of a power, the points are automatically added. However, any other time a character would gain stress, they may test Cool to avoid gaining stress points. The GM may apply a penalty to this test if the circumstances warrant it.

Any number of events might cause a character to become stressed, and what bothers one person might not bother another. GMs and players alike would do well to remember, though, that no one is made of stone, and even the most relaxed people can have their buttons pushed.

Regular combat and complex tasks shouldn't normally add any stress unless something exceptional happens.

Losing Stress
Stress comes from a huge variety of sources, some fleeting, and some that continue to be a sticking point until the issue is somehow resolved. Usually, stress points go away on their own at a rate of 1 every 30 minutes. This doesn't mean a character might not be upset about whatever happened, but their emotions about the incident have settled and they are ready to get on with their lives.

Stressors that are protracted, such as dumb uniforms, ongoing arguments, groundings, and generally unbearable situations remain a sticking point for the affected character, and stress points associated with such situations must be dealt with before the character can move on. Any successful action the character takes to subvert or overcome such unpleasantness (be it one-upping your friend you're in a fight with, throwing your clown costume in the garbage, or sneaking out a window to escape grounding) will immediately remove the associated stress points.

If the character is once more backed into a corner on the same issue, they make their cool test again to try and resist the stress associated with the issue in question.

Eustress
If a character achieves some extraordinary success, such as achieving a long-term goal, finding a valuable item, or overcoming some great adversity, the GM may opt to remove stress points for them.

Flipping the Fuck Out
A character may have a number of stress points up to their current Cool score. If the stress points ever meet that number, they are unable to gain any more. If their Cool score is somehow reduced, excess stress points are lost.

Once a character has reached their maximum Stress level, their player loses all control of the character, who proceeds to Flip The Fuck Out. During this time, the character generally flails around wildly, possibly shouting and breaking things. The character is not completely out of their mind, and will not seek to harm allies, but may sabotage goals or say hurtful things in a blind rage.

A character who is FTFO loses one stress point every round, and may test Cool at the beginning of each round to try and regain control. While their current stress points impose a penalty to that Cool test, the FTFO character ignores all other stress penalties. FTFO characters continue to defend themselves against enemies, but will often act recklessly in so doing, attempting to remove all sources of adveristy as quickly as possible, despite the consequences.

If a character reaches 0 stress, they automatically recover from FTFO. FTFO counts as an Affliction, and as long as a character is below their maximum stress limit, it may be cured like any other. A character who is FTFO will never choose to cure their own affliction, though they probably wouldn't turn down a cure from another.