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Core Mechanics · SRD

Stress

Stress represents how much mental, physical, and emotional strain a character can endure. All classes start with 6 Stress slots. You'll be able to increase the number of Stress slots you have available as you level up, to a maximum of 12. Some special abilities or effects require the character activating them to mark Stress, and the GM can require a PC to mark Stress as a GM move or to represent the cost, complication, or consequence of an action roll.

When a character marks their last Stress, they become Vulnerable (see: Conditions) until they clear at least 1 Stress.

When a character must mark 1 or more Stress but can't, they mark 1 HP instead. A character can't use a move that requires them to mark Stress if all of their Stress is marked.

PCs can clear Stress by making downtime moves (see: Downtime). A PC's maximum Stress is determined by their class, but they can increase it through advancements, abilities, and other effects.

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This work includes materials from the Daggerheart System Reference Document 1.0, © Critical Role, LLC, under the terms of the Darrington Press Community Gaming License (DPCGL), available at https://darringtonpress.com/license/. More information can be found at https://www.daggerheart.com. Daggerheart™ Compatible. This work is not affiliated with, endorsed, or sponsored by Critical Role or Darrington Press.

Reformatted and reorganized for presentation on PostRoll; minor formatting changes. No previous modifications by others.

Licensed under Darrington Press Community Gaming License.

srd-1.0 · Version 1.0.0 · Updated Jul 10, 2026