Effects (or status effects) are temporary or permanent conditions in Outward. Some Effects apply only to character, while others apply to the Enemies as well. Use Food, Potions, Skills or Equipment to gain, inflict, or remove effects.
Vitals
These effects provide passive recovery-over-time for the player's vital attributes - 
Health, 
Stamina, and 
Mana.
Combat and Attributes
There are many kinds of positive and negative effects related to the player's Attributes.
- Boons and other positive effects increase a character's attributes
- Hexes and other negative effects reduce a character's attributes
- Imbues add bonus damage or effects to Weapons
- DoTs (Damage-over-Time effects) periodically inflict damage
Other unique combat-related effects include:
Diseases
Diseases are obtained from enemies, poorly-prepared food, and the weather.
Needs
Needs relate to basic survival aspects like Hunger, Thirst, Fatigue, and the Weather.
Weather
Inventory
Sleep
Sleeping in Inns or tents will grant various buffs, often related to stamina.
Other Effects
Buildup
Buildup is an aspect of on-hit effects, most commonly Hex and DoT effects inflicted by Weapons, Enemies and Skills.
In order for an Effect to be applied, it must reach 100% buildup. If the effect is applied again when the target is already inflicted, it will refresh the timer on the effect.
Each time the on-hit effect registers, the buildup from the source is added to the current total, until it reaches 100%. So for example a Weapon which has an effect with 60% buildup, it will takes two hits to apply. For a skill with 15% buildup, it would take 7 hits to apply.
The buildup will slowly fall down to 0% over time. It takes around 30 seconds to fall from 100% back to 0%.