Slowed is a battle condition that halves how fast a unit acts. A Slowed unit gets its combat rounds at half the normal rate, so it runs half as fast and strikes half as often, and it takes -2 Attack Skill and -2 Defence Skill. It lasts for the rest of the battle. The unit panel shows "Slowed: -50%" beside Current Combat Speed and "Slowed: -2" among the battle effects.

The engine keeps one action-speed percentage per unit, and every combat timer reads it. It starts at 100. Quickness raises it to 200, Slowed halves it, and Slimed halves it again, so a unit under both Slowed and Slimed sits at 25.

• Movement. Combat Speed is multiplied by the percentage, and the result never falls below 2.
• Melee. The wait for the next melee action is 750000 divided by the percentage: 7500 ticks at 100, which is one combat round, and 15000 at 50.
• Attack and defence. A percentage of 200 or more gives +2 to both skills, and a percentage of 50 or lower gives -2. Values in between change neither.
• Fatigue. Encumbrance fatigue is charged per melee action, so a Slowed unit also tires at half the rate.

Missile weapons keep their own reload timer, so a Slowed archer shoots as often as an ordinary one.

Because every timer reads the same percentage, Slowed and Quickness cancel exactly: a Quickened unit that becomes Slowed lands back on 100 and fights like an ordinary unit. Both icons stay on the panel, so the cancellation does not show in the icon row.

Spellcasting is not slowed either, even though the Slow spell text promises victims will need twice as long to cast. A Slowed mage casts at the same rate as an unslowed one. Of the three things that text names, only movement and melee actually halve.

Source	Requires	Targets	Penetration
Slow	2, Alteration 4	1 square at range 30	11
Crawl	3, Alteration 7	2 squares per level of the caster's Water magic, at range 30	11
Slowing Weapons	5 bless	every blow the blessed unit lands	16
Mind Slime	innate on its carriers	squares near the carrier, all battle long	15

Crawl is the mass version of Slow: the same effect over 6 squares for a Water 3 caster, growing by 2 squares per further level.

Slowing Weapons triggers as a separate strike whenever the blessed unit's blow connects, even a blow that dealt no damage. The pick's value of 5 is a built-in penetration bonus, which puts its check at Penetration 16.

Nothing else inflicts the condition: no monster ability, weapon, item or magic site carries it on its own.

Every source allows a Magic Resistance check, and a passed check negates the effect completely. The source rolls its Penetration plus DRN against the target's Magic Resistance plus DRN, and the source wins ties. Slow and Crawl are Water spells: the caster's Water levels beyond the spell's requirement raise the roll, and the target's commander's Water levels help resist. Mind Slime rolls through Astral: half the carrier's Astral is added on top of its base of 15, and the target's commander's Astral helps resist. The Slowing Weapons rider belongs to no path, so neither side's magic moves its roll.

Affliction resistance gives no protection against Slowed.

Mindless creatures and creatures with Void Sanity are immune to Mind Slime. The two spells and the weapon rider affect everyone.

Removal is limited:

• Some battle conditions get a recovery roll at the start of each round. Slowed gets none: once it lands, it stays.
• Twilight removes it. At round 100 of a very long battle every temporary effect is dispelled, Slowed among them.
• The condition is battle-scoped, so no unit carries it into the next turn.

The Slimed condition comes from the spells Slime and Gooey Water and from the Slimer trait below, and it halves the same action-speed percentage. Two things set it apart from Slowed. Slimed adds its own -2 to attack and defence on top of the -2 from the halved speed, for -4 in total. And unlike Slowed it can wear off: a recovery roll runs every round, and the condition ends as soon as the unit's Magic Resistance plus DRN beats 21.

Slimer is a monster trait that slimes whoever strikes the carrier. Each blow against it triggers a Nature Magic Resistance check at 10 plus the Slimer value. A failed check leaves the attacker Slimed. The Gore Tide Horror (5) and the Ancient Presence (3) carry it.

The Mind Slime aura, despite its name, inflicts Slowed and never Slimed.

• Combat Speed for rounds, movement and the other speed modifiers
• Quickness for the opposite condition
• Mind Slime for the aura source
• Magic Resistance for the resistance roll