# Consequences

[zcthu3]

I was re-reading the "Final Refresh Level, Fate Points, Stress, & Consequences" section of YS (p68) and realised that it says you have one mild, one moderate and one severe consequence by default. Just to clarify this is the total number of base consequences (3) rather than one mild, moderate and severe consequence per stress track?

[Papa Gruff]

Every Character by default has one mild, moderate and severe consequence that can be used for any kind of stress track. He can't have two minor and one moderate or any other combination. To every kind of consequence he or she get's one for free.

[Archmage_Cowl]

yes you have 3 consequences base total. NOT by individual track. So if you took a moderate social consequence until it's healed you cant take a moderate physical, or mental consequence.

[Deadmanwalking]

Yep, it's total. That's why additional Mild Consequences specific to one track or another are so cool.

[zcthu3]

Thanks all, that's what I thought. I missed the cap in my original rapid read through and just wanted to double check. Cheers.

[ryanroyce]

Yeah, it took me a while to realize this as well.  While I find it rather silly that being fooled with deceit somehow makes you less able to take a punch (or vice versa), it is how the game works.

[CableRouter]

Yeah, it took me a while to realize this as well.  While I find it rather silly that being fooled with deceit somehow makes you less able to take a punch (or vice versa), it is how the game works.

I don't find it silly, don't look at it as being less able, look at it as being less willing to take that punch and still keep fighting.  Imagine a professional boxer, he can take a lot of punishment before he's taken out; now drop on some serious mental stress like one of his kids just being diagnosed with a terminal disease and his wife telling him he's leaving with his other child right as he steps into the ring for a couple of mental/social consequences.  I'm perfectly ok with that boxer being a lot less focused on the fight and being a lot more willing to just give it up a lot sooner than he would otherwise.

[Jeckel]

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That is a really good explanation.

[Deadmanwalking]

It's more or less the official one, too.

[Chris M]

I don't find it silly, don't look at it as being less able, look at it as being less willing to take that punch and still keep fighting.  Imagine a professional boxer, he can take a lot of punishment before he's taken out; now drop on some serious mental stress like one of his kids just being diagnosed with a terminal disease and his wife telling him he's leaving with his other child right as he steps into the ring for a couple of mental/social consequences.  I'm perfectly ok with that boxer being a lot less focused on the fight and being a lot more willing to just give it up a lot sooner than he would otherwise.

Yeah, Tyson won fights through metal and social stress, bot physical. He intimidated fighters and then tagged that to knock them out.

He also lost finally though mental stress rather than being outclassed physically. Makes perfect sense to me.

[ryanroyce]

:shrug: I'm not contesting the official rule, but I still think it's a bit silly.  Mental and social consequences can be debilitating in a fight, no doubt, but that should be represented by the boxer's opponent exploiting them with tags/invokes/compels, not by the boxer suddenly having a glass jaw.  Again, :shrug:.  Changing it would likely disrupt the balance of too many things, so I'm not suggesting that it should be changed without significant consideration, but that doesn't make it any less silly, IMO.

[JosephKell]

:shrug: I'm not contesting the official rule, but I still think it's a bit silly.  Mental and social consequences can be debilitating in a fight, no doubt, but that should be represented by the boxer's opponent exploiting them with tags/invokes/compels, not by the boxer suddenly having a glass jaw.  Again, :shrug:.  Changing it would likely disrupt the balance of too many things, so I'm not suggesting that it should be changed without significant consideration, but that doesn't make it any less silly, IMO.

Maybe the moderate or severe consequence is already committed to the mental damage, so they can't be applied to soak physical stress.

In that way, they do quit earlier (assuming they are willing to commit consequences) because consequences are already applied.

[Wordmaker]

I prefer to look at the rules as being used more to reflect narrative, not just the game-world's reality. If a character takes a lot of stress or consequences, he is definitely feeling more and more like giving up, but what's also important is that the character's story is becoming less about how he succeeds, and more about whether or not he'll be able to succeed when so much is going against him.

[rickayelm]

How does the reiki spell effect this? Lets say you have a minor mental consequence and a moderate physical consequence, the reiki spell turns the moderate physical consequence into a minor one, but you can only have 1 minor consequence.

[luminos]

reiki reduces the consequence for the purpose of recovery.  So it is still a moderate consequence, but it recovers as quickly as a minor one.