Tracking Sanity in Call of Cthulhu(6e?)

[MonkeySage]

I am a bit confused on how this works: You get your SAN score, and this somehow gives you your current sanity points... but you when you lose sanity, do you scratch from your current score or from 99?

Can you roll both SAN and Current Sanity? How does that work?

How does one track sanity points, and where do players get 99 from? When you take permanent sanity loss, does this affect your san score?

[Rhynn]

This being CoC, I assume 6E is no different from 1-5.6E, so...

SAN starts at POW x 5. You roll against current SAN, and you lose points from (or gain points to) current SAN. The only time 99 enters into things is that your maximum SAN ever is 99 - [Cthulhu Mythos skill]. (Well, actually I think that's 100-CM, but whatever.) I have no idea where else 99 would enter into things, unless the new edition was a radical departure from the previous ones.

[MonkeySage]

So the actual SAN attribute can increase and decrease? Say that I encounter such and such creature, and witnessing it causes me to lose 1d6(5) sanity points, it also increases my CM score by 1 point. Are my current sanity score and my SAN score two different stats? or would I actually lose 5 SAN?

Lets say that I originally had 65 SAN...

[Khedrac]

In practice once you have worked out your starting sanity from your starting Power × 5 and set your current sanity equal to it, you can ignore your starting sanity - all that matters is your current sanity, which cannot be over 99-Cthulhu Mythos.

In theory the current sanity section on the character sheet is supposed to enable you to keep track of and update your sanity - they are the same stat (and I don't think all versions have both shown on your character sheet).

Now 5 × Power remains useful - as this is your Luck, which is the other reason I like to keep my starting sanity as high as possible.

[Telok]

Character start: Your POW is 13 and your Cthulhu Mythos is 0. Thus your SAN is (13 * 5) 65 and your maximum possible SAN is 99.

In play: You meet some Deep Ones, lose 1d6 (4) SAN and gain 1 Cthulhu Mythos. Your SAN is 61 and your maximul possible SAN is 98.

Later: You read a horrible book and learn a clue, lose 2d8 (9) SAN for reading the book and gain 15 Cthulhu Mythos. Your SAN is now 52 and your maximum possible SAN is 83.

On a good day: You defeat the nasty cultists, stop a ritual, and see a nice psychoanalyist. Gain 3d6 (17) SAN. Your SAN is now 69 and your maximum possible SAN is still 83.

On a bad day: You arrive at the ritual too late, Y'golonac eats your fiancée, and you learn that your grandmother was a Deep One which means that the rash on your neck is going to turn into gills. Next character, now with more dynamite.

[Rhynn]

So the actual SAN attribute can increase and decrease? Say that I encounter such and such creature, and witnessing it causes me to lose 1d6(5) sanity points, it also increases my CM score by 1 point. Are my current sanity score and my SAN score two different stats? or would I actually lose 5 SAN?

Lets say that I originally had 65 SAN...

Your SAN goes from 65 to 60. Your maximum SAN is now 98. That's it.