So, you’re probably all wondering: what’s mental damage?
It is an attack on your existence. It is your mana and soul.
When you are insulted, how much can you take?
When you’re exhausted but you keep pushing yourself, it can stress the mind as much as it does the body.
If your acqusition you’re using in this situation is powerful enough, you could consider taking mental damage instead of physical damage when you roll negative on a challenge involving such an acquisition, while still respecting the acqusition’s effects as if you had rolled that damage positive.
This makes you EXTREMELY LETHAL for physical damage quickly when you use taking damage this way, so remember that the consequences of WHAT HAPPENS come up only after the requisite HP or MP you take have been bypassed.
The question you ask is when interpreting a challenge this way is:
What are the consequences? Who suffers them? You ultimately get to interpret what happens, and discuss things accordingly with anyone involved in the scene.
You can apply mental damage to yourself in the following kinds of situations to get an equivalent number of damage you’re dealing:
- special abilities
- spells
- social encounters (debating, insulting, lying, intimidating, etc)
- physical exertion
- weather
- survival
- etc
If it’s a challenge that’s relevant, the consequences are yours to decide.
Like physical hit points, mental hit points demand a trauma upon hitting 0, that impacts you in a not immediately curable way, but in a non-physical way.
This can be any consequence that is not immediately reversible without a treatment, even if that treatment is “rest”.
Remember that this is still freeform roleplay: the dice may tell you that there are consequences, but ultimately you get to interpret what those consequences are.
For more information on traumas, see FES: Acquisitions and Traumas - #2 by kobold
EDIT: renamed metaphysical to mental