Hardiness

Hardiness is one of the seven Aptitudes, the basic statistics that paint a character in the broadest possible brush strokes (from a mechanical perspective). As an aptitude, it is meant as a coarse representation of the character's capacity to sustain physical effort - this is best contrasted against the other two "physical" aptitudes, Agility (their capacity to direct that effort with finesse) and Strength (their capacity for peak physical effort). Unsurprisingly, it is the statistic used as the basis of Hit Points, an important pool. This stat also represents overall physical endurance and is the basis for a few other rules covering situations like poisoning, disease, and extended exposure to adverse conditions.

Use of Strength Checks

Like all aptitudes, Hardiness can be used to resolve a challenge as though it was a skill. This is most appropriately done when something is a question of physical endurance only, and knowledge or skill are not a factor. Very often, this is called for when determining the result of exposure, handling poison and disease, and is part of healing.

Use for Pools

While pools are as varied as the settings that use them, there are a few common pools predefined as starting points that are available to setting developers to include whole-cloth in their settings. Several of these are derived from Hardiness:

• Hit Points, a non-optional pool that describes the character's overall physical health in terms of their ability to withstand physical damage.
• Endurance, an optional pool used in survival-oriented games for measuring a character's state of fatigue.