.: Help for stamina

Stamina (SP) is your physical endurance -- one of your three resource
pools, alongside Health and Conviction. It is the fuel of the body in a
fight, and managing it is the difference between winning a long exchange
and gassing out halfway through one.

━━━ What Stamina Powers ━━━

  - Defending -- dodging, parrying, and blocking all cost stamina.
  - Special moves -- bash, trip, kick, and the like.
  - Getting back up -- standing from prone takes a real effort.
  - Movement -- travelling, and hauling more than you can comfortably
    carry, both draw on it.

━━━ The Cost of Defending ━━━

Every defensive attempt spends stamina -- and it spends it whether the
defense succeeds or fails. Dodging is the cheapest, parrying costs more,
and blocking with a shield is the most expensive of the three. Because a
single incoming blow can test all of your defenses at once, a hard-pressed
fighter bleeds stamina fast. Shield-heavy styles hit hardest on the pool;
dodge-focused styles are leaner.

━━━ Running Low ━━━

Stamina does not fail all at once at some cliff-edge -- it fades. As the
pool drains, your effectiveness slides down with it, smoothly and steadily:
you land fewer and weaker blows, your defenses grow less reliable (while
still costing full stamina to attempt), and if you bottom out you may not
have the strength left to stand at all. Fighting on an empty pool is a
death spiral -- the tools keep costing but stop working. When you feel it
going, break off and recover, or flee outright.

━━━ Regeneration ━━━

Stamina returns a little each round, and much faster while you are out of
combat and at rest -- the same rhythm as Health and Conviction. In-combat
recovery is deliberately slow, so extended fights are a test of endurance.
If you are losing the stamina war, disengage and let it come back before
you commit again.

━━━ Raising It ━━━

Your maximum Stamina is governed by Vitality, which -- like every stat on
Gaius -- grows through use. The more you fight, endure, and exert, the
deeper the pool becomes and the longer you last before it tells. Some
equipment and buffs raise Vitality (and so stamina) as well.

See Also:

  help health, help conviction, help combat, help stand
  help flee, help status