The rule
A Claustrophobic hero is fine for the first four rooms of a dungeon. From the fifth room onward, each time the party moves on, they gain +3 stress, on top of anything the floor’s condition adds. The penalty is per room, so it scales with the length of the floor:
| Rooms in the dungeon | Extra stress for a Claustrophobic hero |
|---|---|
| 4 or fewer | none |
| 6 | about 6 |
| 8 | about 12 |
| 10 | about 18 |
| 12 | about 24 |
Why stress is the right thing to worry about
Stress follows a hero home. It comes off only with rest days in the hall (about 6% of the current value a day), and over about 72 a hero stops counting as fit for selection (see hero state). At 100 a hero breaks mid-delve and fights on in a damaged state: reckless, fearful or hollow, each moving their damage, healing or threat by 12%.
Take a ten-room floor. An ordinary hero ends it with whatever the fights and the floor’s condition added. A Claustrophobic hero carries 18 more. If they started at 55, the extra alone can push them past the fitness line even after a delve that went well.
How it stacks with other stress sources
- Floor conditions that add stress between rooms apply on top. Fair-Weather makes that part half again as large and Weathered halves it; neither touches the Claustrophobic part.
- Deep dungeons add stress after every wave of enemies (6, or 12 for a hero who finishes the wave below 40% health). A long Deep run is the worst case for this trait.
- A Hopeful party-mate trims Deep wave stress by 10% for everyone, and a leader with the “A Steady Word” milestone gift by a quarter, but neither reduces the per-room penalty.
Other hooks
- Gear hunts dislike it. Gear Hunt jobs list Claustrophobic among the traits they would rather not take, which takes 6% off the hero’s suitability.
- Forks. As party leader, a Claustrophobic hero leans +2 toward the known path. With nothing pulling the other way, they take a side room only about 20% of the time it is offered, which at least keeps the floor from getting longer.
- Flavour. Quest reports have Claustrophobic lines, and on pair duty the hero speaks with the “nervy” voice shared with Cowardly, Shaken, Haunted, Brittle, Frail and Fair-Weather.
The hero card links the trait to Composure. That link is descriptive; the attribute is unchanged.
Using a Claustrophobic hero
- Short floors are free. On dungeons of four rooms or fewer, the trait never triggers.
- Check the floor length before you set the party, and rotate them out of long delves when you can.
- Rest them afterwards. If you must take them deep, plan extra recovery time before the next fixture.
- Keep them out of the leader’s seat on floors where a side room would help you.
Conflicts and rarity
Claustrophobic can never appear with Dauntless or Deep-Seasoned, both of which suit a hero to long, deep runs.
- Rarity: common, negative · draw weight 100 of 6,365 · about 1 recruit in 25
- Founding draft: any card, or as the negative half of the wildcard card.
- In the wiki’s archive: first present in the 2.1.8 build (absent from 2.0.7).
Recruiting
A mild negative for most guilds, larger if your league’s dungeons tend to be long or you take Deep contracts often. It never fades with age.