Splatbook*

Marking Debilities

Players mark debilities on the character sheets to indicate that their character suffers from them. Player characters might mark a debility because...

  • … they trigger a player move, and that move says that they mark a debility;
  • … you hurt them, and the harm you in flict includes them marking a debility;
  • … you demonstrate a downside, or offer an opportunity with a cost, or tell them the consequences, and the downside/ cost/consequence is them marking a debility; or
  • … you make any other GM move that involves them becoming weakened, dazed, or miserable, and have them mark that debility.

In other words: marking debilities is both prescriptive and descriptive. Prescriptive: a move says they mark the debility, and they then suffer that condition in the fiction. Descriptive: something happens in the fiction that would leave the character weakened, or dazed, or miserable, and thus the character marks the debility and suffers the mechanical penalty.

If a move tells the player to "mark a debility," they can choose the debility to mark. Ask them what that looks like in the fiction. The Lightbearer's invocation leaves them miserable? Why that debility? What are the symptoms? What does this look like to everyone else?

If a move causes a player to mark a specific debility, and it's already marked, then they caught a break. Maybe the condition gets a little worse in the fiction, but the mechanical penalty stays the same. If marking the specific debility is an optional choice, and it's already marked, then they can't choose that option.

If a move requires that a PC marks a debility as part of its trigger, and the debility is already marked, then they can't trigger the move. For example, if the Heavy already has all three debilities marked, they can't trigger Unfettered.