Stamina Variants

The following is a variation on the standard ICONS calculation of Stamina (based on Strength + Willpower) that may better suit certain styles of play.

Ability Tally
Rather than having a Stamina score, characters mark Stamina damage suffered from attacks against three of their abilities: Strength, Willpower, and one ability of their choice (from the remaining four of Prowess, Coordination, Intellect, and Awareness). Damage may be distributed amongst the three abilities as desired and has no effect on the ability's in-game use. When allocated damage equals or exceeds an ability, the character in unconscious.

''Example: Atomic Roach has Strength 8, Willpower 6, and chooses his Coordination 5 for his third damage ability. He can take a total of 16 points of Stamina damage, dividing it up amongst his various abilities, before any one of them accumulates damage that equals or exceeds its level. The 17th point of damage will bring one of his tallies up to that threshold, rendering him unconscious.''

This approach to Stamina allows for a number of different variations:


 * Certain attacks (such as surprise attacks, or the first attack in a conflict) have their damage applied to just one ability, without dividing it up. This results in quicker knock-outs in those circumstances.
 * Certain maneuvers may allow attackers to choose to target an ability for damage (again, going for a faster KO).
 * Damage applied against different abilities may have different consequences (see ICONS Team-Up for discussion of consequences). Damage applies to Strength may result in physical injuries, while damage applies to Willpower causes self-doubt, depression, or a loss of fighting spirit.
 * There's a lot of variability with the third ability. It does not even have to be an ability, it could also be a power level instead. The ability chosen may represent something about the character's fighting style.
 * Strength and Willpower don't need to be fixed; it could be based on any three ability levels, although this level of variability will tend to see more characters with nearly the same Stamina levels, as the tendency will be to choose the character's three highest levels as often as possible.
 * If a damage tally equal to or high than any one ability results in unconsciousness, a tally higher than two abilities may result in serious or lasting injury, and a tally higher than three could result in death!