(Re-post from forum) Toughness is Flawed Perk: Interferes with Game-State Awareness

[TrueNinjafrog-WasTaken]

NOTE: Post was already made on the now defunct forum. However, I wanted to re-post because this is, I think, a big issue in gameplay design. Some edits made from the original post.

In short, it is very easy to die from passive game-state injury (especially Starvation, Thirst, and Bleeding) for players with a maxed-out Toughness skill investment, because it is easy to miss all the visual cues that death is imminent. A fix would be to add better/more visual cues, and possibly additional sound cues.

Suggestions for fix:

• Add pulsing/flashing/passive (maybe settings-based) icons for when any stat bar is dropping/low (I'd suggest 50%)
• Add audio cues for passive damage (stomach growling for hunger, cartoon drying up sound for thirst, geiger counter for low radiation)
  EDIT: Maybe crackling or sizzling is a better word for drying up.
• Maybe override Toughness resistances when taking damage from Hunger, Thirst, and Radiation?

Description of issue
While yes, you still visually take damage on the stat bar, the way the current skill system works means that these damage indicators can become extremely hard to see (which makes sense for a combat scenario for awareness). It also means that you may not receive visual indication until it’s far too late. This can be exacerbated by players with a small UI (especially on 1440p and similar), where active damage states may be missed.

In honesty, this post is a bit of a mald, because this is the only way I’ve consistently died outside of PvP. Yes, this is a “skill issue”… But this is something that could also be an accessibility issue. Especially, for newer players or those struggling to notice game-state details like this.

[SDGNelson]

I agree with at least the first two suggested fixes (icons and audio cues).

Implementation-wise I think it'd be useful to support custom/modded status effects (similar to, e.g., burning) that could be used elsewhere, too.