Sanity Points - LunarNeil/Call-of-Cthulhu-Campaign GitHub Wiki

Sanity Points are the basic currency for improving your Investigator over time. They can be held onto for a session and spent on Skill progression, wound recovery, or madness reduction, or burned during play to desperately cling to control over an increasingly fragile mind.

Each player is allocated 4 Sanity Points at the beginning of a session, to be used when they see fit. Sanity Points may also be awarded during play for successfully confronting horrors or unlocking important secrets. Players can usually expect to spend 6 Sanity on a normal game day.

Sanity Point costs of usage are summarized below:

Skill Progress

Cost: 4 Sanity Points. Investigators with unspent Sanity at the end of the session may purchase Skill half-steps at 4 Sanity each. See the Skill Progression section of the Character Advancement Chapter for more information.

Recuperate

Cost: 2 Sanity Points. Investigators with unspent Sanity at the end of the session may remove Damage or Madness points for 2 Sanity each.

Keep Control

Cost: 1 Sanity Point. When an Investigator must make a Stability Check they can burn a Sanity Point to pass the Check without a roll. Moderators may impose Stability Check penalties as normal.

Modify a Modifier

Cost: 1 Sanity Point per Bonus. When an Investigator must make a Conflict Resolution roll they can adjust the number of any modifier, including their Skills, by an amount equal to the number of Sanity Points they burn.

Activate an Ability

Cost: 1 Sanity Point. When an Investigator benefits from a Special Trait, they can burn a Sanity Point to unlock the full effect of that Trait.

Sanity Points are not points of "Fate" that can be used to break the rules or avoid an unfortunate death. They are simply a way for Investigators to exert added control over their own actions, for as long as their Sanity Points hold out. Sanity Points also do not accumulate, unspent Sanity must be allocated before the beginning of the next session.