Cold Penalty

Cold Penalties represent the slowing effect of exposure to extreme cold, and are typically caused by receiving Cold Damage. Each point of Cold Penalty temporarily reduces the victim's Dexterity by 1, although as with Shock characters rapidly recover from this effect - losing 1 point of Cold Penalty a turn (at the end of their turn).

If a character suffers from a Cold Penalty great enough to reduce their Dex to zero then they are temporarily frozen solid and rendered incapable of thought or movement. While in this state all normal physical processes (including things such as hunger, thirst, ageing, or the progress of poisons or diseases) are slowed to 20% of their normal rate.

Cold Penalties do not fade as normal while frozen, but frozen characters will thaw after a number of minutes equal to their full Dexterity, at which point they recover 1 point of Dex and can begin to function normally again - with recovery from the remaining Cold Penalty then progressing at the standard rate. If a character suffers from a fresh Cold Penalty while already frozen then this resets the time for which they remain frozen.