Shock

Shock is closely related to damage, and represents pain, shock and anything else that threatens the bonds between body and spirit in a living being. Each point of Shock suffered by a character applies a -1 penalty to all their Skill Checks (including Trauma Checks) and is fully cumulative with any Wound Penalty the character may be suffering. Taking Shock immediately provokes a Trauma Check. Where Shock differs from actual damage however is that it fades very quickly due to Shock Recovery.

The most common cause of Shock is as a by-product of damage: whenever a character receives sufficient damage to provoke an Injury Penalty then half of this penalty (round down) is actually just Shock rather than Damage Penalty. Thus characters tend to partially recover from their injuries as the initial shock passes over the next few turns.