Conditions

Some features impose a condition on your character (or an adversary). These are effects that grant specific benefits or drawbacks to the target they are applied to. Daggerheart has three primary conditions—Hidden, Restrained, and Vulnerable—which are explained in the following sections. Some features apply other unique conditions whose effects are detailed within the text of the feature. Unless otherwise noted, the same condition can’t be stacked—applied more than once—on one target.

Hidden

While you’re out of sight from all foes and they don’t know where you are, you gain the Hidden condition. While Hidden, any rolls against you have disadvantage. After an adversary moves to where they would see you, you move into their line of sight, or you make an attack, you are no longer Hidden.

Example: While scouting a temple to the Fallen Gods and investigating some large statues depicting ancient battles, Rune hears footsteps coming. He declares that he’s going to duck behind the statues and wait for whoever's approaching to pass. The GM decides that the statues provide ample cover and doesn’t call for a roll. Rune is now considered

Hidden. The GM describes snippets of dialogue as two

cultists walk right by Rune as he sticks to the shadows, then asks Rune what he wants to do next. If Rune had attacked

the cultists as they passed, he’d have lost the Hidden

condition after doing so.

Restrained

When you gain the Restrained condition, you can’t move until this condition is cleared, but you can still take actions from your current position.

Vulnerable

When you gain the Vulnerable condition, you’re in a difficult position within the fiction. This might mean you’re knocked over, scrambling to keep your balance, caught off guard, magically enfeebled, or anything else that makes sense in the scene. When a creature becomes Vulnerable, the players and GM should work together to describe narratively how that happened. While you are Vulnerable, all rolls targeting you have advantage.

Clearing Conditions

When an effect imposes a condition, it might say it is “temporary,” or only applies "temporarily," the condition is a temporary condition. You can make an action roll, with a Difficulty determined by the GM, to try clearing a temporary condition, though the GM might have you clear it in another way. As always, this action roll should be described and negotiated narratively. For example, if your character is Vulnerable, you might describe how you leap through the fire that’s trapped you, free your legs from the vines entangling them, or use a canteen to wash noxious venom off your body. If an adversary is affected by a temporary condition, the GM can use their move to spotlight the adversary and show how they clear the condition. This doesn’t require a roll but does use that adversary’s spotlight. When it fits the story, the GM might clear the condition in other ways instead. Special conditions are cleared only when specific requirements are met, such as completing a certain action or using an item. The requirements for clearing these conditions are stated in the text when the condition is applied. The GM can offer alternative ways to clear these conditions at their discretion.

Ending Other Temporary Effects

Some effects aren’t a condition, but state that they are temporary. They can be ended in the same way as temporary conditions. If you initiate the effect (for example, by using the “Ranger’s Focus” class feature), the GM can end it by spotlighting the adversary and describing how they get rid of it. Conversely, if the GM initiates the effect (such as an adversary creating a temporary cloud of poisonous gas), you can try to end it by making an appropriate action roll.