Injury and Death¶
Hit Points¶
Your hit points determine how much kick you have left in you. If you drop to or below your negative amount of maximum hit points you die. As long as your hit points are positive your character is not hindered in any way. If you go below zero you have to roll to determine whether you stay conscious. The difficulty for this task is:
against:
You may add effort to this roll to stay awake.
For example, Jack got hit with a baseball bat over his head, and was dealt six points of damage. He currently has two hit points remaining and would drop below zero, specifically to -4. His DC is thus 4.
Another example, John was stabbed with a knife and took 8 points of damage, he was already barely standing at -1 HP. The DC to remain conscious is now 9 (-1 -8 = -9).
Recovering Hit Points¶
If all wounds are cared for, and you have time to rest and heal, you roll to see if you naturally recover one hit point per week. Any strenuous activity - such as fighting or travelling - interferes with this natural healing ability, and no hit point is recovered in that week. To see if you can recover one hit point make a constitution check against a DC totalling the amount of wounds you have (see below for wounds).
Someone who is trained in Medicine can speed up this healing process. First roll to diagnose the patient and then to treat the wounds. The DC is as followed:
A character is who is trained in first aid can do the same, but the DC is is more difficult:
If the diagnose check is successful any difference can be added to the treatment roll as a bonus. If the diagnose check was unsuccessful any difference is subtracted from the treatment roll as a penalty.
Then roll for treatment, with the same DC, and add or subtract any relevant bonus or penalty from the diagnose check. If you succeed you can heal one hit point per day for one week. If you fail however, you do not cure any additional hit points. Diagnosis and treatment requires some sort medic laboratory, hospital, or at least a doctor’s bag or a first aid kit. Diagnosis and treatment can be done multiple times a day, as degreed by the GM.
You may treat yourself, but gain a +2 penalty on all checks while doing so.
Note
We are aware that this healing rule is slow, difficult and cumbersome for the player. Healing HP, and wounds for that matter, has been made a responsibility of the campaign setting. See your relevant campaign setting material for additional healing options, such as items or rules. Some settings might offer near instantaneous healing through items or technology, others might wish add to the survival game play experience by limiting healing.
Wounds¶
The wounding system abstracts away injury, wounds and other impediments a character gains through the loss of hit points. Having suffered “four wound damage” does not mean, that the character has four minor wounds. They might as well be one major wound that has gradually gotten worse.
Whenever a player takes damage (from any source) he has to roll to see whether he sustains a wound. Wounds are separate from HP loss and represent negative effects a player might sustain for losing HP.
To see if the player gains a wound from roll a constitution/strength check against the the damage caused to the player: This is the damage after any relevant armour is subtracted but before any zone modifiers are applied. Morale does apply to this roll, as do any other relevant bonuses gained from certain perks or items. You may not add effort to this roll.
If the check fails you gain the difference between the DC and your roll as wounds. These wounds reduces your maximum hit points by that amount until treated. This effect stacks with all other wounds. Since your maximum hit points are reduced, this means that your death threshold is also at your new negative maximum hit points. If you reach zero maximum hit points because of wounds, you die.
Treating Wounds¶
Treating wounds works the same way as recovering hit points. You use Medicine or First Aid, diagnose first and add any relevant bonuses to the treatment check. The DC is determined by the amount of wound points sustained. For Medicine the amount of wound points is halved for the DC.
So for Medicine the check is:
For First Aid the check is more difficult:
First you diagnose the wounds. If you fail the check you must add any difference to your next treatment roll as a penalty. If you succeed the check you can add the difference to your treatment roll as a bonus.
If you succeed at the treatment roll, the patient recovers 1 wound. The patient does not regain any hit points, but his maximum hit points is raised by one. This also possibly cures wounding effects, see down below for further information.
Wounds cannot be cured naturally over time, and either require specialised equipment or others to diagnose and treat you. A character can try to diagnose and treat himself, although he gains a +2 penalty to such checks. The DC is thus:
Major Wounds¶
If your maximum HP is reduced below one half of your normal HP through wounds you have suffered a major wound. Whenever you do any strenuous activity on a day, you must roll a check against your half your wound total. If you fail this check you gain another wound point.
If your maximum HP is reduced below one quarter of your normal HP through wounds you have suffered a fatal wound. For every day your maximum hit points is reduced below one quarter, you must make another check against your wound total. If you fail you gain another wound point.
Wounding Effects¶
Whenever your wound points reach a multiple of five (5, 10, 15 etc.) you gain one additional wounding effect. Roll ten sided dice against the table below to determine this adverse affect.
If your wound points are reduced below the nearest multiple of five, that negative effect is cured. If you reach that multiple of five again you immediately gain a new adverse affect. For example if you have 10 wound points, and a doctor cures you for one wound points (to 9) you lose whatever affect you have received when reaching the tenth wound point. But as soon as you take a wound again (thus reaching 10 again) you have to roll again to see what affect this has.
| Result | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1 | 2 wounds |
| 2 | 1 wound |
| 3 | -2 speed |
| 4 | -2 strength |
| 5 | -2 dexterity |
| 6 | -2 constitution |
| 7 | -2 perception |
| 8 | 3 points of damage |
| 9 | 1 point of damage |
| 10 | - |
These effects stack with each other. If you roll a ten nothing happens.
Note
The Wounding Effects rule adds additional hurdle and lethality to the game. Game Masters should carefully consider this rule, before using it.
States¶
A character can be afflicted by various states that alter his performance. Game Masters should give out these states to players and NPCs, depending on the situation. Items or environmental effects may also apply these states to the players or NPCs.
Blinded¶
A blinded character cannot use his perception in related skill checks, unless the character has another sense to orient himself, such as scent. A blinded character also takes another speed on all movements.
Deafened¶
A defeaned character also loses his perception in related skill checks. If a character is blinded and defeaned, the character is treated as having -4 in perception.
Stunned¶
A stunned character is unable to move for a given amount of rounds, and cannot do actions such as dodging, moving, jumping or running.
Nauseated¶
A nauseated character takes -1 on all related skill checks.
Sickened¶
Depending on the sickness, the character gains a minus on all related skill checks, and incurs a wound that lowers his maximum hit points until the sickness is treated.
Sicknesses can get worse, in which case the penalty and maximum hit point loss increase. See the details of the specific sickness for these values.
Unconscious¶
An unconscious character is considered still and cannot take any actions. The character may fall to the ground prone. After he regains positive hit points, he awakens after a few minutes.