In addition to their attributes, characters in The Nexus Framework have a few other statistics. These affect their performance both in and out of combat.
Stamina represents a character’s short-term resilience and physical reserve—the ability to shrug off blows, absorb shocks, and keep moving despite the toll of combat. Unlike true injury, hits to stamina don’t leave lasting harm; they measure fatigue, rattled nerves, and the strain of sustained effort. When stamina is depleted, characters feel worn down, slower to react, and less effective in their actions, but a good rest or brief recovery can restore them to full vigour. It reflects the wear and tear of battle rather than the deep cuts or broken bones that require true healing.
So long as the character has any stamina remaining, damage from attacks is applied to stamina first. Only when stamina is depleted does damage apply to health.
If an attack would inflict more damage than the target has stamina remaining, excess damage from that attack is applied to health, but does not cause the Injured status condition.
For most characters, their stamina is equal to their Body value—the raw score, not the modifier. Some backgrounds—mostly those associated with combat—will increase a character's maximum stamina.
Health tracks the lasting harm a character sustains in battle—cuts, bruises, broken bones, and other wounds that cannot be shrugged off. Unlike stamina, health recovers slowly, reflecting the body’s need for proper rest, treatment, and time to heal. Damage to health represents true physical trauma, limiting a character’s effectiveness until properly tended to, and leaving them vulnerable if ignored. While stamina reflects temporary strain, health is the mark of danger made real: each point lost is a step closer to serious consequences, making careful tactics and recovery essential for survival. Whenever a character takes damage that is applied to health (and none of it to stamina), they gain the Injured status condition, with a value equal to the amount of health lost to that attack.
A character's health is largely set by their Ancestry.
A character's speed is the distance that they can travel in two seconds of brisk walking. Of course, movement in combat is rarely so easily metered. Therefore, the speed statistic is used as the basis for the various movement actions a character might take: walking, running, sprinting and charging.
For a human, a speed of five is normal.