Update:
Still working on the new update. It's coming along nicely and should be a lot of fun. I editted the main post with proper credits, the video guide that was created, and a general overview.
Cross-Post from another thread, but here's a preview from a part of the new Update that I'm pretty excited about:
Combat Stress Reworked
Combatants (on the player side) no longer suffer a base 3/6 Stress each turn. Now Combatants only receive combat stress if they are damaged and their health lost is greater than their Courage.
How It Works
Please note that all incoming damage is weighted 20% more than previously taken HP damage (Effectively giving a Courage penalty to a massive strike).
If the person loses health, it first checks if they are currently below 25% health OR if their health lost is greater than their total Courage. If so, if the Random 0-100 is greater than their Courage + Confidence/4 (for a max of 50 with 100 in each), they take 2-4 stress (twice if Cowardly).
Otherwise, if their health lost is greater than their Courage/2, it checks if the Random 0-100 is greater than their Courage + Confidence/2 (for a max of 100 with 100 in each). If so, they take 2-4 stress (twice if Cowardly).
If their lost health is less than half of their Courage, they shrug it off and no Stress is gained.
Stress is still gained upon losing allies, however. That just seems fitting.
Benefits of the New Stress System
Beyond making stress management in combat slightly more intuitive and less of a chore, this also provides a lot more functionality to the Protect action. As the only ones who will be making Stress checks are those who take damage, having a Bodyguard with high Courage and Confidence will mean that they are not only soaking up the damage for weaker allies, they are also preventing stress.