NULL_POINT() // SYSTEM REFERENCE // EXHAUSTION v0.1
Exhaustion
A track from 1 to 10. Every mission costs something. The body keeps the bill.
Runners don't get sick days. They don't get weekends. When the rent is due and the next job is available, the math is simple — you take the job. Maybe you're tired. Maybe your hands are still shaking from last week. You'll sleep when it's over.
Exhaustion is what happens when "when it's over" keeps moving. It's not a punishment. It's a clock. The body runs on a budget, and every mission is a withdrawal. Small ones are manageable. Stack enough of them and you start feeling it in ways you'd rather not admit — slower reactions, shorter fuse, the kind of fatigue that sits behind your eyes and doesn't leave. Most runners know this feeling. Most runners push through it anyway.
At some point the body stops asking and starts telling. Everyone who has worked too hard for too long knows this moment. It doesn't announce itself. One day you just can't get up.
The exhaustion track is that experience made mechanical. Take care of your runners. Not because the rules say to — because everyone has a limit, and the Sprawl will find yours if you don't find it first.
No mechanical effect. The runner is tired. GMs should describe it — a slower reply, a shorter temper, the kind of weight that only the character notices. No dice are touched. The body is keeping score quietly.
Small penalties begin bleeding in. At 3–4, sustained tasks and anything requiring concentration take a −1 die. At 5, that penalty extends to all pools. The runner can still function. They're making a choice to keep going. That choice has a cost now.
The body is making decisions. Before a runner can take a mission, they must make a Push Roll. Penalties are significant and escalate with each point. A failed roll means the character cannot proceed — forced downtime triggers immediately, whether they planned for it or not.
No roll permitted. The runner cannot take a mission. They cannot push through. The body has made its decision. Mandatory downtime triggers automatically and does not end until the runner has recovered to 3 exhaustion or below.
| Points | Zone | Pool Effect | Push Roll Required |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1–2 | Worn | None | No |
| 3–4 | Strain | −1 die on sustained / concentration tasks | No |
| 5 | The Line | −1 die on all pools | No |
| 6 | Burning Out | −1 die on all pools | Yes — TN 4, −1 die compression |
| 7 | Burning Out | −2 dice on all pools | Yes — TN 4, −2 dice compression |
| 8 | Burning Out | −3 dice on all pools | Yes — TN 4, −3 dice compression |
| 9 | Breaking Down | −4 dice on all pools | Yes — TN 4, −4 dice compression |
| 10 | Collapse | Cannot act on mission | Automatic failure — no roll |
When a runner at 6 or more exhaustion attempts to take a mission, they roll Grit + Resolve against TN 4. The pool is compressed by the exhaustion zone as listed above. A runner who has invested in Resolve can directly counteract the compression — training the skill is the mechanical expression of knowing how to manage yourself.
If the same runner must push a second time in the same session — held together once, now being asked again — the TN increases to 5. The body remembers.
- Success — the runner can proceed with the mission. They operate under the full penalties of their exhaustion level for its duration. Pushing through does not reduce cost; it defers it.
- Failure — the runner taps out. Forced downtime begins. If this happens mid-mission, see Tapping Out Below.
- Dramatic Failure (half or more dice show 1, no successes) — the runner taps out and gains one additional exhaustion point from the attempt itself. The body is telling them something and they weren't listening.
When a runner fails a push roll mid-mission, they are no longer able to continue. They are not unconscious. They have not necessarily been hurt. They have simply reached the point where the body refuses. Trembling hands. A mind that won't focus. The awareness that one more hit, one more sprint, one more decision under pressure, and something is going to break.
A runner who taps out has a choice, and neither option is clean:
A runner who continues operating after a failed push roll is Redlined. While Redlined, any event that would generate additional exhaustion — taking damage, suffering significant Blowback, failing a roll under duress — triggers a Collapse Roll instead. This is a single Grit die, no skill bonus, TN 4.
Every mission generates exhaustion. Archetype does not reduce this — the body is the body, and the Sprawl taxes everyone. The GM sets a base amount before the mission begins and adjusts at its end based on how it went.
| Source | Amount |
|---|---|
| Base mission — short, low risk, clean | +1 |
| Base mission — standard run | +2 |
| Base mission — long, high intensity, or high stakes | +3 to +4 |
| Mission modifier — clean run, minimal contact, clever solutions | −1 |
| Mission modifier — everything went sideways | +1 to +2 |
| Taking a wound during the mission | +1 per wound |
| Significant Blowback or buffer wipe (Technomancers) | +1 |
| Severe Blowback event | +2 |
| Reaching the end of the damage track / near-death / incapacitation | Track resets to 10 on recovery |
Removing exhaustion requires explicit Downtime — the character is not running missions, not on call, not available. Every 3 days of Downtime removes 1 point of exhaustion. A runner can choose how much Downtime to take, recovering as few or as many points as they have days to spend.
Exception — above 5 points: If a runner begins Downtime at 6 or more exhaustion, the minimum recovery floor activates. The runner cannot end their Downtime above 3 exhaustion regardless of how many days they intended to take. A runner at 6 who wanted 3 days of recovery finds themselves taking 9. The body is not asking anymore.
Below the 6-point threshold, the GM may award an exhaustion reduction outside of formal Downtime when the fiction earns it. This is a judgment call, not a procedure. Candidates include: a genuinely restful night in a safe place, a social scene that went well and felt human, time spent on something the character loves with no pressure attached, a moment of real connection with someone they trust.
The throughline is that recovery happens when the character gets to be a person for a moment instead of a runner. GMs should recognize those moments and reward them.
| Starting Exhaustion | Minimum Downtime Days | Recovery Floor | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1–5 | 3 per point removed | None — player chooses | Partial recovery allowed. GM discretionary recovery possible. |
| 6 | 9 days minimum | Must reach ≤ 3 | Floor activates. Cannot choose to stop at 4 or 5. |
| 7 | 12 days minimum | Must reach ≤ 3 | |
| 8 | 15 days minimum | Must reach ≤ 3 | |
| 9 | 18 days minimum | Must reach ≤ 3 | |
| 10 | 21 days minimum | Must reach ≤ 3 | Mandatory Downtime triggers automatically. No push roll permitted. |
Each session takes place no more than one day after the last by default. This keeps the crew's lives continuous and forces engagement with recovery time — a runner who walked away from last session at 7 exhaustion cannot simply assume a week has passed.
Time can advance further only when all players are in explicit Downtime. At the end of each session, the GM and players agree on what the next session's timeline looks like: how much time has passed, what each character spent that time doing, and what has resolved in the interim — gear deliveries, contacts reached, training progressed. Players have individual agency over their Downtime. One runner may recover two exhaustion points and be back on the street in six days. Another at 8 exhaustion has no choice about the next three weeks.
The crew does not need to move at the same pace. They need to agree on when the next job starts.