Damage and Injury

Damage and Injury

If your attack roll succeeds and your target fails his defense roll (if any), you may make a damage roll. This tells you how much basic damage you dealt to your target.

Your weapon (and, for muscle-powered weapons, your ST), or your natural or Innate Attack, determines the number of dice you roll for damage. If your target has any Damage Resistance (DR), he subtracts this from your damage roll.

If your damage roll is less than or equal to your target's effective DR, your attack failed to penetrate – it bounced off or was absorbed. If your damage roll exceeds your target's DR, the excess is the penetrating damage. If your foe has no DR, the entire damage roll is penetrating damage.

Your foe suffers injury (lost HP) equal to the penetrating damage for a crushing attack, 1.5× penetrating damage for a cutting attack, or 2× penetrating damage for an impaling attack. Other damage types exist, and have further effects.

General Damage

If injured, subtract the points of injury from your Hit Points. Usually, you are still in the fight as long as you have positive HP. The most important effects are:

• If you have less than 1/3 of your HP remaining, you reel from your wounds. Halve your Move and Dodge (round up).
• If you have zero or fewer HP left, you hang onto consciousness through sheer willpower and adrenaline – or barely hold together, if you're a machine. You must roll vs. HT each turn to avoid falling unconscious.
• If you go to fully negative HP (for instance, -10 if you have 10 HP), you risk death! You must make an immediate HT roll to avoid dying. You must make another HT roll to avoid death each time you lose an extra multiple of your HP – that is, at -2×HP, -3×HP, and so on. If you reach -5×HP, you die automatically.

The sudden loss of HP can have additional effects:

Major Wounds: Any single injury that inflicts a wound in excess of 1/2 your HP is a major wound. For a major wound to the torso, you must make a HT roll. Failure means you're stunned or knocked out; failure by 5+ means you pass out.

Shock: Any injury that causes a loss of HP also causes "shock." Shock is a penalty to DX, IQ, and skills based on those attributes on your next turn (only). This is -1 per HP lost unless you have 20 or more HP, in which case it is -1 per (HP/10) lost, rounded down. The shock penalty cannot exceed -4 no matter how much injury you suffer.

Stunning: If you're stunned, you are -4 to active defenses, and must Do Nothing on your next turn. At the end of your turn, attempt a HT roll to recover. If you fail, you're still stunned and must Do Nothing for another turn. And so on.

Recovery

The Damage rules may seem harsh, but don't despair ... you can get better!

Recovering from Unconsciousness

The GM decides whether you are truly unconscious or just totally incapacitated by pain and injury – but either way, you can't do anything. If unconscious, you recover as follows:

• If you have 1 or more HP remaining, you awaken automatically in 15 minutes.
• At 0 HP or worse, but above -1×HP, make a HT roll to awaken every hour. Once you succeed, you can act normally. You do not have to roll against HT every second to remain conscious unless you receive new injury. But since you are below 1/3 your HP, you are at half Move and Dodge.
• At -1×HP or below, you are in bad shape. You get a single HT roll to awaken after 12 hours. If you succeed, you regain consciousness and can act as described above. But if you fail, you won't regain consciousness without medical treatment. Until you receive help, you must roll vs. HT every 12 hours; if you fail, you die.

Natural Recovery

Rest lets you recover lost HP, unless the damage is of a type that specifically does not heal naturally (see Illness). At the end of each day of rest and decent food, make a HT roll. On a success, you recover 1 HP. The GM may give a penalty if conditions are bad, or a bonus if conditions are very good.

Fatigue

Fatigue represents lost energy and reduces FP, just as injury represents physical trauma and comes off of HP. Your Fatigue Points (FP) score starts out equal to your HT, but can be modified.

Lost Fatigue Points

The chart below summarizes the effects of being at low or negative FP. All effects are cumulative.

• Less than 1/3 your FP left – You are very tired. Halve your Move, Dodge, and ST (round up). This does not affect ST-based quantities, such as HP and damage.
• 0 FP or less – You are on the verge of collapse. If you suffer further fatigue, each FP you lose also causes 1 HP of injury. To do anything besides talk or rest, you must make a Will roll; in combat, roll before each maneuver other than Do Nothing. On a success, you can act normally. You can use FP to cast spells, etc., and if drowning, you can continue to struggle, but you suffer the usual 1 HP per FP lost. On a failure, you collapse, incapacitated, and can do nothing until you recover to positive FP.
• -1×FP – You fall unconscious. While unconscious, you recover lost FP at the same rate as for normal rest. You awaken when you reach positive FP. Your FP can never fall below this level. After this stage, any FP cost comes off your HP instead!

Recovering from Fatigue

You can recover "ordinary" lost FP by resting quietly. Reading, talking, and thinking are all right; walking around, or anything more strenuous, is not. Lost FP return at the rate of 1 FP per 10 minutes of rest. The GM may allow you to regain one extra FP if you eat a decent meal while resting. Certain drugs, magic potions, etc. can restore missing FP, as can spells such as Lend Energy and Recover Energy.