An Analysis of SAN Loss in Delta Green

When Agents (and theoretically NPCs) encounter unnatural beings, they usually have to make a SAN test and risk losing some SAN. Most SAN losses in Delta Green follow a rule of thumb set out in the Agent's Handbook's Sanity chapter.

If the cost of failing a SAN test is 1D6 or less, the cost of success is usually zero. If the cost of failure is 1D8 or 1D10, the cost of success is usually 1. Some unnatural events and encounters are even more catastrophic (AH, 66).

You can map out the progression of SAN loss like so: 0, 0/1, 0/1D4, 0/1D6, 1/1D8, 1/1D10, 1D4/1D12, 1D6/1D20, and 1D10/1D100. We don't find 1D10/1D100 until we open the Handler's guide, and 1D4/1D12 is purely a theoretical SAN loss that fits very nicely between 1/1D10 and 1D6/1D20 but I've never seen it in any published DG material. 

EDIT: as of Fall 2021, we actually now have an official 1D4/1D12 SAN loss in ARCHINT.

Some listed SAN losses deviate from this progression. Most of these anomalies are unnatural, but first I'll cover the mundane anomalies found in the Agent's Handbook.

Torturing someone, being tortured, and accidentally killing an innocent are all 0/1D8 from Violence. You have to intentionally kill an innocent in order to reach 1/1D10, where the 1 SAN loss on a success represents that no matter how well you cope with that situation, there's still something about it that's wrong. Passing a SAN test means you can push it out of your mind. Presumably, accidentally killing an innocent can be rationalized away as "just an accident." I don't really have a good in-fiction explanation for the torture losses, especially because being tortured seems like it should really be Helplessness. Chopping up a corpse to better dispose of it costs 1/1D6 from Violence as well. It's long and grueling work, it's not like ending someone's life with a single action. Likewise, perforating a body so it sinks in a lake costs 1/1D4. A similar principle applies, but stabbing holes in someone so post-mortem gasses can't lift them to the surface isn't quite as violent. Dissolving someone's body in acid looks like it's anomaly, but it costs 1D6+1 on a failure, which is more than 1D6 and gives the same average result as a D8, so it gets a pass.

Next we have two Helplessness anomalies: a Bond suffering permanent harm or gaining a Disorder (1/1D4) and learning that a Bond has been killed (1/1D6). Strangely, no SAN loss applies if they just die of natural causes, but we can assume that since the death of a Bond reduces it to zero, that'd still be 0/1D4 from Helplessness. With the first two examples, there is no amount of rationalization that can change what happened. That Bond is permanently changed, whether mentally or physically, or they're just gone. Presumably the role death plays in society makes it so if they die of natural causes there's some way of dealing with it, thus being able to pass the SAN test without losing SAN.

 As a tangent, there's an interesting side note about the intersection of Bonds hitting zero and them dying. The game cautions players not to cross off Bonds from their character sheet, "After all, there's no forgetting a vital relationship that went bad" (AH 36). I'd always thought this was just a piece of flavor text to add to the "feel" of the game. But recently, my friend mellonbread pointed out that this is so you still lose SAN when a broken Bond dies or is killed.

Now we get to the SAN losses from unnatural creatures. Spoilers for the Handler's Guide.

 

 

 

 

 

Out of the 33 monsters in the Handler's Guide, 10 of them are anomalies. I looked for some sort of rhyme or reason, but there is none. I had a few theories, like maybe if it violates the laws of physics by just existing, a successful roll costs more SAN that it otherwise would. But the Colour Out of Space is just a simple 0/1D6, despite literally being literally impossibly colored. The only theory that sort of held was "if it's really really gross, it costs more SAN."

First up is the Dimensional Shambler with a SAN loss of 1/1D6. It does pop in and out of our 3-dimensional space, but the SAN loss is just for encountering it. When it's not "apporting," it's just a very strange and ugly creature. You might think that the SAN roll is to see it pop into existence, but as we can see later in the Mi-Go entry, the SAN losses for witnessing something and witnessing that thing traverse space by impossible means are separated out.

Next is the Feaster from the Stars, also at 1/1D6. You might think it's because they're invisible, but their invisibility is more mundane than supernatural. They turn red after gorging themselves on blood as it can be seen through their transparent flesh. Also, their invisibility only confers a -20% to hit, so it can't be that invisible. Attacking someone in little to no visibility confers a -40% penalty to the attack roll.

The Hadeus Nigritia, more commonly known as the Dark Young, is where we get the "grossness theory" from. It costs 1D4/1D10 SAN to personally realize its existence. I guess the writhing tentacles, bizarre animalian plant-like nature, and horrible stench so bad it confers a mechanical penalty bump up that loss of 1 on a successful SAN roll (from 1/1D10) to 1D4.

Before we can move on to the next proper anomaly, we have a brief discussion of the K'n-Yani. They have a normal SAN loss of 0/1D4, but one of their abilities can inflict 1/(1/1D6) SAN loss (yes, that is a linked SAN test). The ability in question is possession, so it makes sense that it'd hit a little harder. However, in the Exchange Personalities spell, a turn's worth of possession is easily dismissed as a fleeting dissociative episode for only 0/1D4 SAN.

Next up is the Liveliest Awfulness, also at 1D4/1D10. These are explicitly described as horribly grotesque. They also smell bad and move weirdly, though there's lots of creatures with some variation of an Unnatural Movement ability and they don't incur extra SAN loss for that.

After the Liveliest Awfulness, we have the Lloigor at 1/1D4. Making mental contact with a Lloigor is described as being particularly soul-crushing, such that the Disorder gained from it is always Depression, so it makes some sort of sense that you'd lose 1 on a pass. From a Doylian perspective, the Lloigor is designed as a neverending onslaught against your Agents, so it fits in with its theming that high SAN can't even save you from your psyche's degradation.

Then we have the Mi-Go at 1/1D6. These beloved fungoid crustaceans were what made me think of the "impossible existence" hypothesis, as they are described as constantly changing as parts of their higher-dimensional bodies slip in and out of our measly three-dimensional space. Here we also see that moving impossibly is a separate SAN loss, as it costs 0/1 SAN to see them teleport for the first time. Curiously, also an example where an Agent can "adapt to the unnatural," despite the book telling us this is impossible. Maybe it's just not possible to adapt to all unnatural threats to one's sanity.

While the Colour was a "proof by contradiction," Serpent Folk are a...proof by contrapositive? It's been a long time since I took a logic course, cut me a break. They cost 1/1D6 SAN but they're just snake people. The only thing I can think of that's less horrifying would be a Lesser Deep One, as not only do they cost less SAN, but human folklore is full of tales of fishy people. It would make sense if it was the loss to see them shift out of their human form, but that's not what we get.

Spawns of Yog-Sothoth are also anomalies at 1/1D6 SAN, though you only lose SAN if you see them unclothed or otherwise exposed. My only guess is that they are kind of gross, but not as gross as say, a Dark Young, or a shambling improperly resurrected corpse. Maybe it's just the ineffable influence of Yog-Sothoth radiating from their being that makes their presence extra traumatic.

Wendigoes (or Wendigowak, the official terminology is unclear) are also an anomaly, but in the reverse direction from the rest of these examples. They only cost 0/1D8 SAN. Perhaps because they're just a human legend that turned out to be real because it was inspired by the effects of Ithaqua on our world? But then that would mean that Serpent Folk should only cost 0/1D6, as there are lots of stories about snake people in real world human mythology, and probably more in Delta Green's universe.

Next up is the Winged Servitor, formerly known as a Byakhee. They are kinda gross, but not very. They have a bizarre combination of anatomy, but it's no stranger than a Deep One. Interestingly, the Winged Servitor is implied to be an overarching category for multiple monsters, as the Handler's Guide suggests that this description also applies to the black winged ones from The Call of Cthulhu or the strange flying beasts that lurk in Carcosa. We're not just dealing with Azathoth here. Fortunately, this all gives us the same excuse, something more potent than just an unnatural creature is leaking through the Winged Servitor which causes extra SAN damage. This is why I like to put a little dash of the presence of the cosmos into the appearance of the Byakhee, to emphasize their connection to Azathoth. They're covered in ice crystals from the freezing cold of the void, but their flesh burns like exposure to vacuum or exposure to a star's light sans atmosphere.

I don't know what to say about the Witches' Familiar. It costs 1/1D6 SAN and is a creature straight out of human mythology. You could say that there's the influence of Nyarlathotep leaking through them, but he's not necessarily the only source of them and you can even meet Nyarlathotep without losing any SAN! One of his possible listed SAN losses is 0. The pre-statblock description suggests "they came from alien dimensions and took shapes to amuse their master," but the statblock's final ability specifies that Nyarlathotep is responsible for them. However, the statblock is only a description of Brown Jenkin, a gift to Keziah Mason from Nyarlathotep. The jury's out on this one.

Now on to a very brief section on the Great Old Ones. Out of the 15 listed in the Handler's Guide, only one of them is anomalous: Azathoth costing 1D20/1D100 SAN to encounter. I'd say he's different because he's the Daemon Sultan whose dream underlies the entire universe, but Yog-Sothoth is similarly tied into the very fabric of reality and only costs 1D10/1D100 SAN. Maybe it's because only Azathoth carries the threat of total annihilation if he wakes up.

Next, we have a brief selection of monsters from various published scenarios for Delta Green. Consider this your spoiler warning for Extremophilia, Ex Oblivione, Future Perfect Part One, Last Things Last, Lover in the Ice, PX Poker Night, VISCID, and Control Group's WORMWOOD ARENA.

 

 

 

 

 

Ready? Okay, lets proceed. Out of the 16 new monsters than the various Delta Green scenarios provide, seven of them are anomalous. That's about the same ratio that the Handler's Guide has.

The Amante from Lover in the Ice has a SAN loss of 1/1D6. The creature indeed is very horrifying, but that comes from what it does, rather than how it appears. This is an important point, which I'll come back to later.

Extremophilia has the Fungal Child, which costs 1/1D4 SAN to find in the scenario. Like the Mi-Go, it glows with colors and flickers in and out of three-dimensional space, so you can apply the "impossible existence" hypothesis. If you're not satisfied with that, the Delta Green developers assign greater SAN costs to anything related to children. Finding a corpse is 0/1 from Violence, but finding a corpse of an infant is worth 0/1D4. Also, in Ex Oblivione, killing possessed children who are trying to murder you with every fiber of their being is one step up from killing possessed adults (0/1D6 to 1/1D8).

On a related note, we also have the Greys from PX Poker Night. This is the only case in which an anomaly costs less SAN. Seeing the Greys costs 0/1 SAN, and hearing them speak in their strange voice costs another 0/1 SAN. For the average person, this is an average loss of ~1 SAN. The SAN loss listed for the Greys in the Handler's Guide is 0/1D4, which pencils out to 1.25 on average, for the average person starting with 50 SAN. Frankly, I prefer this SAN paradigm. I don't think seeing a Grey is quite as horrifying as seeing a fish person and it emphasizes how wrong their voice is, that's cool.

Kaughrhun Kaal, the "final boss" of WORMWOOD ARENA has the most anomalous SAN loss so far, a whopping 1D6/1D10. More curiously, this SAN loss is specifically for seeing it come to life. It's referred to as an "Old One" in the text and finally describes it as a "god of stone and blood," so you could say that places it above a Dark Young which is merely an extrusion of Shub Niggurath's power. However, I'd just use that as license to give it a 1D6/1D20 SAN loss, or 1D4/1D12 because I think a shoggoth's constantly changing form is scarier.

Marlene from Last Things Last is on this list because while it costs 1/1D8 SAN to see her, this is in contrast to the precedence set by the Agent's Handbook and the Handler's Guide. In the AH, it says it costs 0/1D6 SAN to "see the dead walk," and zombies have a listed SAN loss of 0/1D6 in the HG. However, saying that this "goes against precedence" is disingenuous, as LTL was written before the AH was released and when the HG was just a collection of notes.

Next we have a Monolophosaurus from Future Perfect Part 1, also known as "The Killer," with a SAN loss of 1/1D6. This one is the most confusing to me because it's just a dinosaur. It's not some horrible creature from Outside. Yes, they're all supposed to be extinct by now (at least, the non-avian ones), but we could theoretically resurrect them with real life science. Should Jurassic Park cause SAN loss? I think not. Barring SAN loss from watching a T-Rex eat a grown man alive.

Finally, we have the smaller Ulees from VISCID at 1/1D6. I've run out of comments on SAN loss. There's something to be said as to whether you roll SAN every time you encounter a thing, but what's weird here is that while the SAN losses increase in severity with size, the first two size categories have the same SAN loss. I dunno, maybe the Ulee Sample should only cost 1/1D4 SAN.

Sadly, we haven't reached anything universally conclusive on why some sources of SAN loss deviate from the standard pattern. Hopefully I've given you some things to think about for designing your own SAN losses. However, I'd like to come back to the point I alluded to with the Amante. Lots of people have criticized lovecraftian media for the silly proposal that "simply staring at a piece of calamari sushi is enough to drive a man mad." I think it's important to make SAN loss feel like it actually matters. Meeting a Colour is supposed to be as traumatic as being set on fire. Maybe in a different way, but there's still an equivalency. 

When you see a monster, you should lose SAN for more reasons than it just it standing around and being ugly. This isn't anything new, lots of CoC Keeper advice reminds GMs to use sound and smells to emphasize the alien other of mythos creatures. But I think this might not be enough. Whenever the players roll SAN, the monster should be doing something horrible. That's why you lose SAN. The deep one bursts from the water with impossible grace and lands with a wet slap on the pier. You kick open the door and see a ghoul crunching down on a human head as grey matter splatters everywhere. The shoggoth drips, then pours out of the vent until it bursts through the wall leaving a gaping hole. Etcetera. This might mean that the players don't have to roll SAN literally every time they see it. Alternatively, it forces Handlers to be judicious with their use of monsters so every SAN roll feels earned.

Thanks to Thomas "BurningHeron" DiPaulo, who said something two or three years ago about SAN loss from monsters that inspired me to write this.