You bounce back from Stress through three layered systems.
Layer 1: Rest
The simplest layer — time and safety clear Stress.
| Rest Type | What It Looks Like | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Brief rest | A quiet hour, a campfire, no immediate threats | Clear 1 Stress from each of Body, Mind |
| Long rest | A full night's sleep in a secure place | Clear 3 Stress from each of Body, Mind |
| Recovery in safety | Days of downtime in the Solace outpost or a friendly settlement | Clear all Stress from Body and Mind |
Spirit doesn't recover this way — it only refills when you walk a Path to a new world.
Layer 2: Items and Aid
You'll be issued (or might find) various items that clear Stress. Standard issue:
Field Medical Kit (Standard Issue). Use Action: clear 2 Body Stress. Single-use until restocked.
Compliance Stim, Type 3. Use as Movement (not Action): clear 1 Body Stress, add 1 Mind Stress. Single-use until restocked. (Solace doesn't talk about Type 1 or Type 2.)
Calmative Compound, Type 2. Use Action; takes ~1 hour to take effect: clear 2 Mind Stress. Single-use until restocked.
Approved Reflective Practice (procedure, not an item). Out of combat: a real conversation between two characters about something hard. Takes a scene; characters narrate the conversation. Targeted character clears 1 Mind Stress; the supporting character may also clear 1 Mind Stress if they engage genuinely. Repeatable, but it requires real roleplay — "I do approved reflective practice" is not enough.
Stabilizer Coil. Wearable. While worn, prevents the next 1 Spirit Stress that would be applied this scene. Consumed when it triggers.
Anomalous Comfort Object. Not Solace-issued. (Per Company policy 14.3.b, personal possessions of unknown or unverified origin should be reported to your supervisor immediately.) A talisman, a faded photograph, a bit of jewelry, a scrap of cloth that smells like home. Once per session, in a moment of need, hold or look at it and choose: clear 1 Body Stress, OR clear 1 Mind Stress, OR clear 1 Spirit Stress. Describe it. Hold it diegetically. The recovery is rooted in what the object means to you.
The Anomalous Comfort Object is one of the most useful things you can carry. Most characters have one. They're personal. They mean something only to you.
Layer 3: Push Through
You can spend an Action to attempt to recover under your own power — but it's risky.
Body Recovery Roll: Spend an Action. Roll Body, T11.
- Crit: clear 4 Body Stress
- Success: clear 2 Body Stress
- Mixed: clear 1 Body Stress
- Failure: clear nothing; add 1 Body Stress (you pulled something)
- Catastrophic: clear nothing; add 2 Body Stress (a real injury)
Mind Recovery Roll: Spend an Action. Roll Mind or Heart (your choice — composure can be cognitive or emotional), T11. Same outcome structure as Body. On Failure or Catastrophic, the Stress doesn't decrease and a memory or fixation surfaces (the GM narrates briefly).
Spirit Recovery Roll: Doesn't exist. Spirit only refills via Path traversal or your Anomalous Comfort Object.