Hi there,

Other than using strain to activate certain talents, where else can a player spend strain?

I know that the GM can decide that PC take strain due to events that take place in the environment. I find that my character never makes use of his personal strain and i'm looking for ways i can use the mechanic?

Spend 2 strain to take an additional maneuver during your turn. So you can take a total of 1 action and 2 maneuvers. Doesn't sound like much until you notice you can do things like move, aim and shoot, or double aim and shoot.

How advanced is your PC? If you're fairly new you won't generally have many things to spend it on, however once you advance and you're confronted with being able to spend multiple Strain to activate levels of an offensive talent, defensive talent, and perform a second maneuver all in one turn you'll find yourself wishing you had a lot more.

Not to mention if you fall down from somewhere, or get hit by a stun/non-lethal Brawl attack.

Strain is not just physical, it's mental/social as well. Did they just try to negotiate a good deal on some illegal weapons? Rolled lots of successes and even a Triumph, but got a bunch of Threat? You as the GM:

"That deal went well...almost too well. Take a few Strain as you fret over whether your contact is legit...or maybe this is really a sting operation...?!"

Just as a technical point, strain is something you "suffer" and then "recover" rather than something you "spend".

You suffer 2 points of strain to take an extra Maneuver, you don't spend it. Then you can 'spend' Advantage to recover points of strain.

When you're fully rested you have 0 points of strain, and the more points you suffer, the more strained you are. If your threshold is 10 strain and you have 10 points of strain, you're AT your threshold and suffering one more point could knock you out or render you incapacitated or immobile in some other way.

Narratively it could even just mean you're conscious but too worn out to function.