Psyche
The Psyche system simulates the mental state of your character. It may provide them with significant buffs or crippling debuffs according to their mental state.
Each character has two mental indicators – Sanity and Morale, which are both measured using a 0 to 12 scale. Sanity displays character’s mental health and how adequately he perceives the world around him. Morale is all about the character’s spirit, responding for alacrity to withstand all perils. Morale and Sanity are affected by different events. Right now there's no way to view your Sanity and Morale in-game, but that will be fixed upon adding special character's health menu.
Dealing a critical strike or killing a hostile may increase your character’s Morale. Starvation, thirst, injuries and low health, on the contrary may cause a character to lose determination. Same rules apply for Sanity: dwelling in darkness, uncanny monsters, head injuries, intense pain and high toxicity may decrease it dramatically. Increasing it is much more complicated – Sanity restoration will available strictly on the surface, being safe and sound in your caravan.
The interaction between Sanity and Morale enables different Mental Conditions. Conditions provide various unique effects, obtained by the character, depending on the current Sanity and Morale ratio. Each combination grants access to a special pool of Conditions, as illustrated above.
Each Condition demands a trigger – certain requirements that your hero must meet to activate a Condition. For example, to become Optimistic you need your Sanity and Morale level to be 6+, and health level over 85%. While the conditions are fulfilled, the chance to become Optimistic will inevitably increase each turn. Various Conditions work different: some require special conditions to be maintained, and other pass away automatically after several turns.