Status effects

Status effects are temporary, usually negative, character modifications resulting from the character's interactions with the game, such as poisoning after getting hit by a radscorpion, or addiction after consuming a drug.

For a list of effects associated with critical hits, see critical effects.

Irradiation

Severity	Penalty
5%	-10 healing rate
10%	-5 Sequence
15%	-1 Charisma
20%	-1 Endurance
25%	-1 Agility
30%	-1 Perception
35%	-1 Strength
40%	-10% critical chance
45%	-1 to all SPECIAL attributes
50%	-3% to all damage resistances
55%	-3 to all damage thresholds
60%	-2% to all damage resistances (stacks for a total of -5%)
65%	-1 to all SPECIAL attributes (stacks for a total of -2)
70%	Maximum hit points reduced by at least 25%
75%	Critical chance set to 1%
80%	Healing rate set to 0
85%	Action points reduced by at least 50%
90%	-1 to all SPECIAL attributes (stacks for a total of -3)
95%	All damage resistances set to 0
100%	Hit points set to 1

Irradiation means radiation exposure.

Radioactive contamination builds up over time as you visit places with intense background radiation (such as the Glow or the Lost Hill bunker), get hit by attacks that expose you to radioactive particles (ELECTRO-RAD Rockets, Rad Shot, Aliens), or ingest radioactive substances. A status indicator will appear in the top‑left corner of the screen once there's enough radiation in you that it starts affecting your stats; mouse over it for details.

Any character can instantly become fully shielded from all radiation by equipping a suit of TMA Metal Armor. Failing that, the effects of radiation exposure can be mitigated by increasing your radiation resistance.

Radiation resistance reduces the dose of radiation you receive upon exposure by a percentage. It is governed by Endurance, which grants +2% radiation resistance per point (or 1% if you have Fast Metabolism).

Rad Resistance and Snakeater support perks grant 30% and 20% of radiation resistance respectively.

Rad-X grants +50% radiation resistance and increases its cap by 10%, allowing the stat to reach 100% (full immunity) but note that some types of radiation (such as that you get exposed to in the Lost Hill bunker) will penetrate a portion of your radiation resistance.

Characters overexposed to radiation suffer radiation sickness which leads to escalating penalties as radiation exposure continues.

The severity of your radiation sickness is displayed as a percentage when you mouse over the dosimeter badge that says "Radiated" in the top‑left corner of the screen. The sickness has twenty stages, as shown in the table to the left.

Radiation continues to build up until it reaches 111% but there are no additional effects associated with going past 100%.

Taking RadAway will reduce your current radiation level by 50%.

Radiation can be purged instantly by doctor NPCs who can be found in most major locations.

Weakness

Weakness is a stacking debuff that subtracts 1% from one of the main six damage resistances in a fixed loop: normal → laser → fire → plasma → electrical → explosive.

Weakness penalty breakdown

The table below is designed to help you quickly calculate your resistance penalties based on your Weakness stack count. Weakness stacks Damage resistance penalty Normal Laser Fire Plasma Electrical Explosive 6n n n n n n n 6n + 1 n + 1 n n n n n 6n + 2 n + 1 n + 1 n n n n 6n + 3 n + 1 n + 1 n + 1 n n n 6n + 4 n + 1 n + 1 n + 1 n + 1 n n 6n + 5 n + 1 n + 1 n + 1 n + 1 n + 1 n Here's a step-by-step explanation of how to use the table: Find the Weakness indicator in the top‑left corner of your HUD. The number in brackets is your current Weakness stack count. If the indicator isn't there, you have 0 stacks. Divide your Weakness stacks by 6. Note the rounded-down result and the remainder. For example, if you have 98 stacks, 98/6 = 16, with 2 left over as the remainder (because 16*6=96 and 98-96=2). Analyze the result in the context of the table. The rounded-down result is the n number in the table above. The remainder is the number being added to 6n; it's what governs your row choice. In our example involving 98 Weakness stacks, n is 16, and the remainder is 2. Use the "Weakness stacks" column to find the row that matches your stacks in the table above. The numbers later in that row show the percentage points subtracted from each resistance. In our example with 98 stacks, we need to use the 6n+2 row because our remainder was 2. The values found in that row allow us to calculate our resistance penalties as follows: Normal and laser damage resistance penalties: n+1 = 16 + 1 = 17%; Fire, plasma, electrical, and explosive damage resistance penalties: n = 16%.

The following items interact with the Weakness mechanic:

• Med-Tec Antidote instantly removes all Weakness stacks
• Perception grants +1% chance to resist Weakness per point
• Electrical damage applies 20 - target's Perception Weakness stacks on the target
• Critical hits have a chance to apply Weakness to the target (ranged attacks aimed at arms only)
• More Critical Damage (weapon perk) allows your crits to apply additional Weakness stacks on your target
• Heresy Shot (Alien-exclusive weapon perk) applies 3 Weakness stacks on hit
• Leader (class perk) applies 2 Weakness stacks on NPCs with every hit
• Random Boy (class perk) has a chance to apply 50 Weakness stacks on the target when attacking without a combat timer
• Good Natured (trait) applies Weakness stacks to the character that has it when it kills an NPC

Addiction

Addicted characters suffer stat penalties when they're not under the effect of the drugs they're addicted to. Each drug has a unique addiction effect; see Drugs for details.

Characters with the Chem Reliant trait become addicted to the drugs they take automatically; everyone else is safe. To get rid of an addiction, you need to take a dose of Drug Antidote or reroll your character.

Poisoning

Poison stacks deal base damage equal to 2% of your max HP when they expire. If you reach 100 Poison stacks, they will expire all at once, dealing massive damage. Poison resistance allows you to negate a percentage of that damage. Radscorpions, Floaters, and Centaurs apply Poison stacks on hit. The Toxic Caves dungeon north of Klamath periodically applies Poison stacks to any player character inside. Taking poison damage immediately kills any character at or below 0 hit points.

The following items interact with the Poison mechanic:

• Endurance grants +5% poison resistance per point
  • Regulators (class perk) with Fast Metabolism (trait) receive only +2.5% poison resistance per point of Endurance
• Luck grants +4% chance to avoid receiving poison stacks from NPC attacks per point

Gut it out!

• Snakeater (support perk) grants +30% poison resistance
• Rad Resistance (support perk) grants +20% poison resistance
• Antidote (drug) removes 25 Poison stacks from a character
• Med-Tec Antidote (drug) removes all Poison stacks from a character
• ULT (T1 WE stat) grants +25% poison resistance
• S.ULT (T2 WE stat) grants +25% poison resistance
• Poison reduces healing received by 50% (or by 20% if you have the Vitality perk synergy)
• Random Boy (class perk)'s Strike has a chance to apply 50 Poison stacks to the target
• Random Boy has a chance to gain 50% poison resistance (lucky roll) or lose 25% poison resistance (unlucky roll)
• Eyebot (Robot transformation)'s favorite weapon type (Damage Knives) allows it to apply Poison stacks on hit
• Atomic Savant (level perk) allows normal DR to reduce damage taken from poison
• Survivalist (armor perk) increases your poison resistance cap by 10% and boosts your poison resistance by up to 60% (or 150% for Hubologist)
• Poisonous (weapon perk) applies up to 70 Poison stacks on the target (or up to 80 for Hubologist)
• Butcher (legendary weapon perk) allows lifesteal to work on poisoned NPCs
• Rad Shot (Alien-exclusive weapon perk, rank A) applies Poison on hit

Taunt

Taunt makes its targets unable to damage any characters other than the taunter. If the character that taunted you dies, the Taunt effect is immediately removed.

• Deathclaw (class perk)'s Rage taunts every hostile/neutral target on the map for 3 seconds
• Soldier (class perk)'s Strike applies Taunt to the target for 8 seconds
• Baiter (level perk) grants full immunity to taunts, and allows you to taunt all enemies within 30 hexes by using the Traps skill on yourself once every 2 minutes
• Coolheaded (level perk) lets you recover from being taunted 30% faster than normal
• Critical hits have a chance to apply Taunt to the target for 5 seconds

Injury

Injured characters suffer significant stat penalties related to the affected body part(s); see the table below.

Injury	Penalty
Crippled eyes	Perception set to 1
Crippled left/right arm	Inability to use two-handed weapons (one arm crippled) Inability to use one- and two-handed weapons (both arms crippled)
Crippled left/right leg	Inability to run in RT mode (one leg crippled) Movement cost increased to 2 APs/hex in TB mode (one leg crippled) Movement restricted to one hex/click in RT mode (both legs crippled) Movement cost increased to 4 APs/hex in TB mode (both legs crippled)

• The Doctor skill allows you to heal crippled limbs
  • If the patient is a Cyborg, Doctor won't work; instead, Science will need to be used. Cyborgs attempting to repair their own injuries can use the ~cmd menu to do so
  • Injuries can be removed instantly by doctor NPCs who can be found in most major locations
• Leg injury is a common outcome of walking into a bear trap
• Frag Mines set by characters with the Architect perk synergy always cripple their victims' legs
• Explosive damage grants a chance to cripple limbs; the game rolls a random number between 75 and 250, and if it's lower than the damage dealt by the attack, a random injury is applied to the target
• Critical hits have a chance to cripple the body part that the attack targeted
• Iron Limbs (level perk) grants +8% resistance to crippled limbs (critical effect only)
• Deathclaw (class perk) receives a random injury when its Rage effect activates