Affliction

Characters in Darkest Dungeon are not the unwavering heroes of high fantasy to which you are accustomed. While they are certainly tough and capable fighters, they are also very human and you will need to manage their Mental Health as well as their Health. As such if their Stress Bar reaches a peak, they will respond emotionally to the horrors they encounter, by becoming Afflicted, or, more rarely, Virtuous.

Affliction
"Madness... our old friend."

Affliction is a temporary state a Hero is most likely to enter upon reaching 100 stress. Afflicted Heroes suffer stat penalties, can act on their own, pass turns, stress out other party members, move around, disrupting your party formation, steal loot, and refuse heals and buffs. Becoming Afflicted does stress damage to the entire party. Accumulating stress doesn't stop after becoming afflicted and if a Hero reaches 200 stress, they will have a heart attack, reducing their hp to 0 and bringing them on death's door. If a Hero has a heart attack on death's door, they will die instantly and permanently. Afflictions can also be cured in Town, by participating in the activities in the Abbey or Tavern, or in the dungeon, by reducing afflicted hero's stress to 0.

List of Afflictions

 * Paranoid
 * Selfish
 * Irrational
 * Fearful
 * Hopeless
 * Abusive
 * Masochistic

Virtue
Virtue is a temporary condition of increased effectiveness that a Hero acquires after passing an Affliction Check. Virtuous Heroes have increased stats, can randomly heal themselves, reduce stress of the party or buff their teammates at the start of their turn. Becoming Virtuous reduces stress of the entire party by a small amount. Virtuous Heroes are immune to a heart attack (their stress will not increase over 100%). Virtue state will end upon returning to the Hamlet. While the exact chance of becoming virtuous is unknown, its speculated to be around 15-20%.

List of Virtues

 * Powerful
 * Courageous
 * Stalwart
 * Vigorous
 * Focused