Why is "nausea" a worse condition than "sick"?

[Sloanzilla]

Generally, when you feel nausea, you say something like "I feel like I'm going to be sick"- so shouldn't nausea be the lesser penalty and sickened be the greater one?

[Keltest]

"sick" probably means "feverish", which while really gross feeling is not, strictly speaking, debilitating on its own.

[kyoryu]

"Sick" is broad and can mean anything from the sniffles on up.

"Nausea" means something specific, that's worse than a lot of things that fall under the "sick" umbrella.

[InvisibleBison]

Generally, when you feel nausea, you say something like "I feel like I'm going to be sick"- so shouldn't nausea be the lesser penalty and sickened be the greater one?

The naming of various conditions is ultimately arbitrary. Your example could just as easily be used to argue that "nausea" and "sick" should be the same thing.

[Sloanzilla]

See I guess I interpret "sick" to be on the upper end of that spectrum, at least in the context used for gaming.

If I feel slightly feverish, I can still swing a sword without probably being 10 percent less likely to hit

If I feel like I'm going to vomit- I can still swing a sword and might be around 10 percent less likely to hit

If I'm straight up barfing, the best I can probably do is stagger around.

Nausea to me still indicates a transition of sorts- which will lead to more severe symptoms.

[Sloanzilla]

The naming of various conditions is ultimately arbitrary. Your example could just as easily be used to argue that "nausea" and "sick" should be the same thing.

The frightened/panicked spectrum is probably pretty accurate, however.

[MoiMagnus]

Generally, when you feel nausea, you say something like "I feel like I'm going to be sick"- so shouldn't nausea be the lesser penalty and sickened be the greater one?

Because nausea is a specific symptom, while sick is a pretty vague term.

It's like in some systems, you can have a generic injury (without effects) or have a broken leg (with a significant effect).

[snowblizz]

Funnily enough I went through this this morning. I woke up feeling "sick", a bit tired and weak generally and with a headache. Took a painkiller. After an hour or so I started feeling nauseous and had to to take a long break in the bathroom in case the condition worsened unexpectedly.

So I would say the logic checks out. Sick is a more general condition, nauseous is more specific and debilitating it felt like I was imminently going to go into a a worse stage.

[Fiery Diamond]

Something that I think a lot of non-Americans don't realize is that "sick," in most of America, is a general term (synonymous with "ill"). I'm aware that in some dialects, "sick" specifically refers to nausea and vomiting (where the phrase "I think I'm going to be sick" comes from). Besides, the word "sickened" means "the state of being ill," not "in the process of throwing up."

[Psyren]

Generally, when you feel nausea, you say something like "I feel like I'm going to be sick"- so shouldn't nausea be the lesser penalty and sickened be the greater one?

"Sick" and "sickened" are not the same thing, connotation-wise. The former implies an actual illness or condition, while the latter can just be a mild feeling of disgust with no physical/medical origin.

[Telok]

Weirdly, I prefer systems with a mix of broader & tighter conditions. I've been nausious from motion sickness & mild food poisoning that was just unhappy, not incapacitated. Likewise, I've been sick, in pain on the floor vomiting, without nausea.

The words "nausea", "sick", and "ill" are all broad categories of "unwell" in my mind, with a great deal of overlap. While "incapacitated by massive uncontrollable vomiting" is very specific, but doesn't require "nausea" or "sick" and can be included in both.

In a similar manner "poisoned" is insanely broad, covering everything from "the cabbage stew was off" to "injected with several cc of curare and spend the next half hour unpleasantly dying". Yet several games treat all poisoning essentially equally.

[SpyOne]

As I understand it, the (very common) use of "sick" to mean vomiting is a euphemism used to avoid describing bodily functions in detail.

That aside, nausea is generally an upgrade from "feeling sick".
Most RPGs are granular enough that just feeling feverish probably doesn't get a penalty. I would think the "sick" condition implies some combination of fever, aches, sinus congestion, coughing, and chest congestion. This impairs all activity. People in this condition either call in sick to work or school or take a symptom supressor.
But it isn't as bad as feeling like you might puke at any moment.

[Zekestone]

Welcome to the joys of the English language :)

I can understand the intent of what they are going for, even though it might not be crystal clear.

[icefractal]

As far as I've generally heard it, "sick" means anything from a mild flu on up. So if I woke up with a funny taste in my mouth and a light fever, I might say "Ah ****, I think I'm sick", even though it's not going to significantly hinder me. Basically the same as "ill".

Nausea can be mild too, but for the D&D condition I'm assuming the "significantly dizzy, either actively throwing up or requiring full concentration to not throw up" level of it.

[ross]

Generally, when you feel nausea, you say something like "I feel like I'm going to be sick"- so shouldn't nausea be the lesser penalty and sickened be the greater one?

In the context of that sentence, "sick" specifically refers to the act of vomiting, as in, "You've got sick on you". It's entirely separate from "sick" as in "suffering from an illness".

It hardly matters in any case. How words are used in natural language has nothing at all to do with what they mean in a game, and still less to do with the rules attached to them.