Condition — Deafened

You cannot hear. This affects perception, communication, and certain spellcasting.

Mechanical Effects:

• You automatically fail Perception checks that rely on hearing
• You take a -2 status penalty to Perception checks overall (hearing contributes to general awareness)
• When you Cast a Spell with a verbal component, you must succeed at a DC 5 flat check or the spell fails and is wasted
• Auditory effects don't affect you (both beneficial and harmful)
• You can't participate in conversations without visual communication (sign language, writing)

How Applied:

• Thunderclap effects, sonic damage
• Spells like deafness
• Extreme noise exposure
• Disease, curse, or injury

How Removed:

• Duration expiry
• Healing effects that address deafness
• Restoration spell

Tactical Impact:

• Deafened is surprisingly dangerous for spellcasters — the DC 5 flat check on verbal spells means a 25% chance of losing each spell
• Bards are especially crippled by Deafened since many of their abilities are auditory
• For martial characters, Deafened is mostly a perception penalty — annoying but not crippling

Value: Deafened has no value — it's binary.