Multiverse General Stamina

[Daniel]

Overview
Stamina is a character’s overall capacity to function under prolonged physical, mental, or emotional strain during combat, measuring how long a character can exert themselves without losing effectiveness due to stress or exhaustion. Two characters with comparable physical strength, speed, or durability may still display vastly different levels of stamina, since stamina is influenced by a wide range of biological, psychological, and supernatural factors.

Stamina is not a single, rigid statistic, but rather, it is composed of multiple interconnected traits. While aspects such as long-term exertion, pain tolerance, mental focus, and injury tolerance can be evaluated individually, they often appear to improve together due to shared contributing factors like superior physiology, extensive training, or exceptional willpower. This correlation is not guaranteed, however.

Many settings include species traits, supernatural systems, or narrative elements that raise or lower one aspect of stamina without affecting the others. As such, a character’s stamina is best determined by direct feats and clearly defined subcategories rather than by relying on a single generalized label.

Due to differences that can be displayed in physiology, conditioning, abilities, and willpower, individuals within the same species can differ greatly in stamina. Thus, stamina should be evaluated using observable evidence rather than guesswork or scaling from unrelated attributes such as Attack Power and/or Durability. Understanding a character’s performance in prolonged confrontations requires identifying what they can endure and under what conditions. For this reason, stamina should not be scaled between characters simply because they are comparable in power unless the setting explicitly states that stamina is a shared or uniform trait among them.

Components of Stamina
Stamina is not a single trait but a collection of related abilities that determine how long a character can remain active in battle at an effective level. Since each component operates differently, and characters may excel in some areas while being weak in others, treating these traits separately prevents inaccurate assumptions and provides a clearer picture of their overall endurance.

Energy Exertion
This refers to how long a character can continue performing actions that consume physical or supernatural energy. It includes:

• Sustained physical movement (running, fighting, traveling)
• Prolonged use of abilities, powers, transformations, or energy sources
• Functioning without rest, food, or water
• Maintaining outputs such as speed, strength, or aura over time

Feats in this category often involve fighting for hours, days, or longer without significant decline in performance. Characters with extremely high energy exertion stamina may push themselves far beyond normal biological limits, either through training or supernatural physiology.

Pain Tolerance
Pain tolerance measures how well a character can function while experiencing physical pain. It reflects mental fortitude and nerve resilience rather than durability. Examples include:

• Continuing to fight despite intense pain
• Acting normally while injured
• Maintaining combat awareness under severe discomfort

Exceptional pain tolerance does not mean the injury itself is harmless. Instead, it indicates that the character can withstand the pain without mentally collapsing or losing functionality.

Injury Tolerance
Injury tolerance measures how well a character can continue functioning while suffering actual physical damage. This includes:

• Fighting with broken bones
• Acting despite internal injuries
• Remaining mobile while suffering blood loss
• Continuing to operate after losing limbs or suffering organ damage

What separates this category from pain tolerance is that a character may ignore pain yet still be physically unable to function if an injury cripples or disables them. In contrast, some characters can push through life-threatening wounds temporarily, even if the damage would normally incapacitate them. However, even extreme injury tolerance should not be mistaken for immortality unless the character is explicitly unable to die from the injuries they endure.

Mental Endurance / Willpower
This component covers the character’s capacity to maintain focus, resolve, and cognitive function during prolonged stress. It includes:

• Resisting mental fatigue
• Maintaining clarity and decision-making during long battles
• Not giving up under pressure
• Overcoming despair or exhaustion through sheer will

Feats of stamina can be significantly influenced by a character’s Willpower, as some characters can force themselves to stand and continue fighting even when their physical injuries suggest they should be unable to do so. In such cases, exceptionally long-lasting stamina feats stem from sheer determination rather than physical conditioning and should be evaluated as mental endurance rather than biological stamina.

Rate of Recovery
A character's Rate of Recovery determines how quickly a character regains lost stamina, energy, or focus. It includes:

• Natural stamina recovery
• Healing techniques or regeneration that restore energy
• Magical or supernatural replenishment
• Second winds or sudden energy rebounds
• Passive or ambient energy absorption

A high recovery rate can compensate for weaker stamina or extend combat duration far beyond what would normally be possible.

Factors That Influence Stamina
Numerous physical, psychological, and supernatural factors can influence a character’s overall stamina. Understanding these factors helps explain why characters from the same verse (even those with similar power levels) can sometimes display vastly different levels of endurance in practice. They also explain why a character's Stamina cannot be automatically scaled from unrelated statistics such as Attack Power, Speed, or Durability.

Physiology and Biology
A character’s species, anatomy, and biological systems play a major role in determining how long they can function without rest or sustenance. Examples include:

• Efficient energy conversion or storage
• Enhanced muscle or organ structure
• Redundant or reinforced biological system
• Natural resistance to fatigue or bodily strain
• Unique cellular or metabolic properties

Even members of the same species can show noticeable differences depending on genetics, age, or bodily condition, as lifestyle and day-to-day physical demands can also create major differences in stamina even among individuals of the same species.

Supernatural Energy Systems
Many fictional characters rely on extranatural forces to exert themselves. These systems can fundamentally alter how stamina functions. Examples are:

• Energy systems that are considered "supernatural" (mana, chakra, aura, nen, reiatsu, etc.)
• Divine or spiritual energy
• Transformations fueled by supernatural reserves
• Constant or renewable power sources

Characters bound to these energy systems can sometimes experience fatigue in ways that differ cfrom what would normally be expected based on their species’ physiology. It mainly depends on on how their power source interacts with their body and abilities.

Willpower and Mental Discipline
Mental fortitude can significantly extend a character’s capabilities beyond what their body should physically allow. These influences include:

• Determination and resolve
• Emotional anchors or motivations
• Experience resisting fear, stress, or despair
• Ability to stay focused despite exhaustion or damage

This is especially important for characters who routinely push themselves past biological limits.

Regeneration and Healing Abilities
Certain characters can maintain or restore stamina on their own through:

• Accelerated healing
• Regenerative abilities
• Magic or energy-based recovery
• Passive restoration abilities
• Absorbing external energy

These factors can allow characters to stay active far longer than they otherwise could.

Mechanical or Artificial Systems
For mechanical, digital, or artificially constructed beings, stamina depends on:

• Power sources (batteries, reactors, external fuel)
• Cooling systems
• Programming limits
• Energy efficiency
• Maintenance requirements

Not all artificial characters have infinite stamina; many can overheat, lose power, or shut down. Sometimes this can happen in the middle of combat!

Environment and External Conditions
External factors can either enhance or reduce stamina:

• Temperature extremes
• Atmosphere or lack thereof
• Gravity levels
• Energy-rich or energy-draining locations
• Poison, disease, or disruptions

Some characters’ stamina increases dramatically in favorable environments (e.g., sunlight, magical fields), while adverse conditions can weaken them.

Levels of Stamina
Each of the Level of Stamina represents the estimated amount of time a character can fight at their usual pace before experiencing a noticeable decline in their capabilities. Only periods in which the character is actively fighting or exerting themselves at a functional and effective level are counted, and thus, simply remaining awake, conscious, or standing does not qualify.

The levels listed below ignore other forms of endurance, such as pain tolerance, injury tolerance, or mental stamina, and instead focus solely on a character’s capacity to maintain their usual expected levels of performance over a period of time.

Spoiler: Levels of Stamina

Momentary (Under 10 seconds)
This level applies to characters who:

• Burn through energy extremely quickly
• Can perform only a single action or short technique before tiring
• Rely on sudden bursts rather than sustained effort
• Possess severe physical limitations, exhaustion, or instability

Brief (10 to 60 seconds)
This level applies to characters who:

• Can fight or exert themselves for less than a minute
• Show noticeable fatigue after initial effort
• Rely on quick, limited actions rather than sustained combat
• Lack conditioning or have stamina-draining abilities

Short-Term (1 to 10 minutes)
This level applies to characters who:

• Can fight, run, or exert themselves for several minutes without collapsing
• Begin to show fatigue during prolonged exchanges
• Perform well in short to medium bursts but struggle in drawn-out encounters
• Can maintain powers or abilities briefly but experience diminishing efficiency over time
• Rely on technique, agility, or quick impact rather than their endurance

Moderate (10 minutes to 1 hour)
This level applies to characters who:

• Possess solid endurance and can remain effective through extended combat
• Maintain consistent performance for lengthy periods before slowing down
• Can use abilities or techniques repeatedly without immediate fatigue
• Recover between actions reasonably well but still experience clear limits
• Begin to tire primarily from continuous stress, not lack of conditioning

Extended (1 to several hours)
This level applies to characters who:

• Endure long battles, long-distance travel, or multi-phase encounters without rest
• Maintain powers, transformations, weapons, or abilities for at least an hour, if not longer
• Recover quickly enough to remain active under consistent pressure
• Are minimally affected by fatigue unless they are severely damaged or exhausted beforehand
• Can remain operational in harsh conditions or extended missions

Enduring (Several hours to multiple days)
This level applies to characters who:

• Can remain active for extremely long periods with little or no rest
• Can sustain combat, travel, or heavy usage of their abilities well beyond typical human or superhuman limits
• Show only gradual fatigue even after hours of continuous exertion
• Continue functioning effectively despite environmental stress, injury, or resource depletion

Long-Term (Over 1 week, if not longer)
This level applies to characters who:

• Can fight for days or weeks without meaningful rest
• Experience fatigue extremely slowly, often only after prolonged strain or extreme circumstances
• Maintain powers, transformations, or enhanced states for extended durations
• Endure prolonged journeys, sieges, or multi-day battles without major decline
• Possess stamina far beyond conventional biology or training
• Operate continuously even under harsh conditions or limited resources

Unlimited (No measurable upper limit)
This level applies to characters who:

• Can exert themselves indefinitely with no signs of fatigue or performance drop
• Are not subject to biological exhaustion, mental fatigue, or energy depletion
• Maintain powers and abilities endlessly as long as external conditions allow
• Can fight, travel, or operate forever unless injured, disabled, or otherwise forced to stop

Characters with this level of Stamina often possess:

• Infinite or perfectly self-replenishing energy
• Physiology that never experiences fatigue
• Supernatural traits that prevent exhaustion entirely
• Stamina systems not governed by biological limits
• Non-physical, spiritual, or energy-based forms that do not tire