II.A. Damage
Each character resists damage inflicted to him or her in one of two ways: Either the character takes the punishments and is tough enough to keep going, or the character avoids the damage in some way. In recognition of this fact, damage capacity is measured with two categories: Physical and Stamina. Physical points represents the amount of damage that the body can actually take. Stamina points represent that nebulous region of skill, luck and toughness, by which a character can avoid the damaging effects of blows.
Physical points are the points the character generates at first level. The basic range is determined by the character's race and class. The race determines the basic range of the individual. As player characters are intended to be exceptional and unusual people, a character may never roll any physical points beneath average, i.e. 4 for a human, 5 for a dwarf, 3 for an elf, etc. Characters who have a large number of physical skills may receive a bonus (see below). Finally, a high Health may provide an additional bonus. This bonus is added every level.
Exceptional Health and athletic development are among the few ways a character may gain Physical points during the campaign. The sum total of all athletic skills the character possesses, including weapon skills, running, hiking, swimming, etc., is taken. This is used to determine the character's Athletic Skill Level. For every Athletic Skill Level above 8, the character receives an additional physical point.
The physical points of the character represent the number of points that the head and torso have. Each arm has half that number, rounded down. Each leg has half that number, rounded up. When a limb or the body reaches 0, it has been incapacitated. The maximum number of physical points a character may have is equal to his or her racial base times two, modified by whatever bonus or penalty the character's Health may provide. However, the character's physical points may not be greater than his or her HEA.
Stamina points are the points a character accumulates through levels. The number is rolled randomly each level, and the die type is determined by the character's total Melee Skill. The sum total of all Learning Points that the character has placed into Combat Skills is calculated as a Skill Level, and this it the die type rolled at the point of cresting to the new level. Exceptional Health may provide a bonus to the number of stamina generated. This bonus is added every level, including the 1st. The maximum number of Stamina points a character may possess, without mystical or magical aid, is equal to his or her PHY total.
Exceptional health and general melee combat training are among the few ways a character may begin with stamina. The sum total of learning points the character has in melee combat skills is used to determine the characters Melee Skill Level. For every Melee Skill Level above 6, the character receives a point of stamina. This is in addition to whatever stamina points the character has accumulated from exceptional health or from level advancement.
As an example, consider the career of Rath, dwarf. At first level, Rath's physical points are rolled initially. For his race, dwarf, he rolls a d8. The first roll is a 3. This is below average for a dwarf, and therefore is rerolled. This time, Rath gets a 7. He begins his career 7 physical points. Rath has an average Health, and thus receives no bonus. Rath's athletic total is only 9, so he receives a bonus of 1 there. This brings his total of physical points to 8. Rath's Melee total is 8, so he receives 2 stamina points at the start of his adventuring career, giving him of 8 pp and 2 sp. Upon advancing to second, Rath's Melee total is still 8, so he rolls a d8, and gets a 4. Now, at second level Rath has 8 physical points (pp), and 6 stamina points (sp). Training during his 2nd level increases Rath's Athletic Total to a Rank of 10, and he gains an additional physical point as a bonus, increasing his total to 9. Upon achieving third level, his Melee total has increased to 9 as well, and a d9 is rolled, this time resulting in a 7. At third level, Rath has 9 pp, and 13 sp.
The bonus that a character with exceptional Health receive is split evenly between physical and stamina points. If the bonus is an odd number, then the it is first rounded in favor of physical points, and then rounded in favor of stamina at the next level. For example, if Rath had a 19 Health, a +3 bonus would by applied. At first level, they are split between physical and stamina, and are rounded in favor of physical. Thus Rath would get +2 to pp, and +1 to sp at start, with his net result at first level being 11 pp, and 1 sp. At second level, the bonus is split in favor of stamina, and Rath now has 11 pp, 9 sp. At third, they are split in favor of physical again, and Rath will have 13 pp, and 17 sp.
When a character receives damage from an attack, it is normally subtracted from stamina first, and them from the physical points once stamina is depleted. However, exceptional physical blows can do physical damage without depleting stamina. An exceptional blow is any attack which inflicts more damage than the character's stamina threshold. A character's stamina threshold is equal to his or her Melee Rank. A character's minimum stamina threshold is based on the character's racial base. Thus a human with only a Melee Total of 4 would be considered to have a threshold of 6, because the human racial base is 6, even though the stamina threshold for the character is only 4. Any damage done above this limit is applied to physical points. This may be reduced temporarily by fatigue (See Section VI below).
For example, our friend Rath is attacked by a nasty fighter with exceptional strength wielding a halberd. Rath is struck for 12 points of damage, an exceptional blow that inflicts 9 stamina points and 3 physical points. This of course assumes that Rath has enough stamina to take 9 points in stamina. If he did not, then his stamina would be wiped out, and the rest of the damage would apply to his physical points. It is important to note that this applies only to physical attacks. Spells and the like are applied only to stamina until stamina is exhausted.
A character will recover stamina whenever the character has an opportunity to rest. Assuming that the character has a full eight hours of good rest, he or she may recover 1d4 points of stamina. However, this number is reduced by 1 point for every point of physical damage the character still has exceeding his or her Athletic Skill Level-8. In addition, for every seven days on which the character spends gets at least 8 hours of rest, and in which the character does no engage in any strenuous physical activities, he or she will recover an additional 1d4. This amount may be recovered even if physical injuries remain.
Each week after an injury has been taken, the character must roll a Health Check. If the Health check is successful, the character's injury heals by one point. For each incident of strenuous activity the character has engaged in during the week, the character suffers a -1 to the Health Check. Note that a separate Health check needs to be made for each individual injury. If the injury is from a chopping, piercing, or slashing weapon, the character must also make a Health check to resist infection of the wound. This Health check is also reduced by -1 for every incident of strenuous activity, as well as reduced by - 1 for every point of the injury that remains.
Each time a character takes a physical injury, he or she suffers not only the physical limitations of the wound, by the disorientation of the shock of the wound. Every time the character takes a physical injury, he or she must make a WIL Resistance Roll versus Shock. If the RR is successful, then the character makes suffers no effect from the shock. If the RR is a critical success, the injury is not considered for any further shock checks. However, if the RR is a critical failure, the character must multiply the shock value by two (this is cumulative with all other modifiers).
If the RR is a failure, the character suffers Shock from the damage, and will be incapacitated for a period of time. To determine the severity of the shock, compare the amount the Resistance Roll missed the Shock Check to the total amount of Shock on the chart below, Table II.A.6.a. This indicates both the type of incapacitation, and the duration of the incapacitation.
| Shock Total | Difficulty | Base Odds |
|---|---|---|
| up to RB | 4 | 11 |
| up to 2*RB | 6 | 13 |
| up to 3*RB | 8 | 15 |
| up to 4*RB | 10 | 17 |
| up to 5*RB | 12 | 19 |
| up to 6*RB | 14 | 21 |
| up to 7*RB | 16 | 23 |
| up to 8*RB | 18 | 25 |
| over 8RB | 20 | 27 |
RB is racial base
Amount check missed by on chart below for result:
| Shock Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shock Check | RB | 2RB | 3RB | 4RB |
| -1 | Di 2 | Di 8 | Di 50 | Di 3m |
| -2 | Di 4 | Di 30 | Di 2m | Di 8m |
| -3 | Da 6 | Da 30 | Da 3m | Da 8m |
| -4 | Da 8 | Da 45 | Da 5m | Da 15 |
| -5 | Da 10 | Da 60 | Da 5m | Da 25m |
| -6 | S 12 | S 60 | S 5m | S 25m |
| -7 | S 22 | S 95 | S 8m | S 35m |
| -8 | K 22 | K 95 | K 9m | K 35m |
| -9 | K 30 | K 150 | K 12m | K 45m |
| -10 | K 35 | K 4m | K 18m | K 55m |
| -11 | K 50 | K 5m | K 25m | K 85m |
| -12 | K 60 | K 7m | K 35m | K 95m |
| -13 | K 80 | K 9m | K 45m | K 2h |
| -14 | K 95 | K 11m | K 55m | K 3h |
| -15 | K 150 | K 14m | K 85m | K 4h |
| -16 | K 3m | K 17m | K 95m | K 5h |
| -17 | K 4m | K 21m | K 2h | K 7h |
| -18 | K 5m | K 25m | K 2h | K 10h |
| -19 | K 7m | K 55m | K 3h | K 12h |
| -20 | K 9m | K 90m | K 4h | K 14h |
| -21 | K 11m | K 3h | K 5h | K 18h |
| -22 | K 14m | K 4h | K 7h | K 22h |
| -23 | K 17m | K 5h | K 10h | K 25h |
| -24 | K 21m | K 7h | K 12h | K 28h |
| -25 | K 25m | K 10h | K 18h | K 34h |
| -26 | K 55m | K 12h | K 22h | K 53h |
| -27 | K 90m | K 18h | K 22h | K 82h |
| -28 | K 3h | K 22h | K 25h | K 6d |
| -29 | K 4h | K 25h | K 28h | K 8d |
| -30 | K 5h | K 28h | K 34h | K 11d |
| -31 | K 7h | K 34h | K 53h | K 14d |
| -32 | K 10h | K 53h | K 82h | K 19d |
| -33 | K 12h | K 82h | K 8d | K 23d |
| -34 | K 18h | K 6d | K 11d | K 29d |
KO: The character is unconscious.
Stun: The character is semi-conscious but incapable of acting or coherent thought.
Dazed: The character drops to the ground conscious but incapable of offensive action or thought. After 2 seconds, a dazed character may flee to cover and take non-offensive actions at 1/2 normal rate.
Disoriented: The character is fully functional except for disabling injuries and may flee or duck to save himself. He is incapable of offensive action and may not advance toward the enemy.
The Shock value is equal to the total amount of physical damage the character has suffered already added to the amount of shock damage just taken. The physical loss from the new wound is multiplied by two if the injury was inflicted on the body, and by 3 if the injury was inflicted on the head by a cutting weapon, and by 4 if the injury was inflected to the head by a blunt weapon. Injuries resulting from critical hits have their shock value multiplied by two. All multipliers are cumulative, i.e. a critical hit to the head with a blunt weapon will have a 2x4=8 multiplier for the shock value.
Fatigue represents the state of exhaustion of the character. The less fatigue, the less exhausted the character is. Fatigue is acquired through strenuous activity, ranging from combat to ceremonial prayers to swimming in swift waters. Fatigue applies a penalty to the character's effective Health total, with a penalty of 1 for every point of Fatigue the character has accumulated. Fatigue also reduces the stamina threshold from which attacks do physical instead of stamina damage. The character's Health divided by the character stamina type yields the amount of fatigue it takes to reduce the character's stamina threshold. For example, a warrior, with a 15 health, and a Melee Rank of 10 has a normal stamina threshold of 10. For every 1.5 fatigue accumulated, the warrior's stamina threshold will drop by one. This number is rounded up. Thus a 1 fatigue, the character is at normal stamina threshold. At 2 fatigue, the threshold is at 9, and at 3 fatigue, the threshold is at 8.
When a character's fatigue reduces the effective Health to 5 or less, the character begins to become exhausted. He or she will suffer a -1 ESL penalty to all actions and skill checks. Then penalty increases for every additional fatigue increase, i.e. -2 at effective HEA 4, -3 at effective HEA 3, etc.
When a character's fatigue total equals his or her Health, then the character is exhausted to the point of collapse. He or she must rest, or the character will collapse from exhaustion. Collapsing can be avoided by burning stamina, with 1d6 worth of stamina burnt for every point of fatigue incurred. Note that the character may collapse while attempting to do something if this consumes all of the character's stamina.
Fatigue reduces by 1 for every hour spent resting. Stamina may not be recovered if the character is fatigued. If a character fatigues himself or herself to the point of collapse, then the character will only recover 1 point for every three hours of rest. A character who collapses must rest until he or she recovers up at least a HEA of 5.
When a character suffers damage during a fight, the character will suffer penalties from the damage. First, the character will suffer an initiative penalty equal to the amount of damage done. For stamina, this means a random range equal to the amount of stamina done, but for physical damage, this is a penalty of 1 per point of damage done. Thus a blow that inflicts 4 points of physical damage will cause a delay of 4 to the character's initiative, but if the blow had only done 4 points of stamina the delay would be 1d4. This can slow an action in progress, i.e. an attack. However, certain other actions take place on a fixed time, and cannot be slowed or stopped, such as the invocation of a mystic ability or a spell. For these, the defender must make take a penalty to his or her check equal to the stamina damage done plus the shock value of the physical damage.
Even if a character avoids the effect of shock from a physical injury, the injury itself will impose limitations upon the character. For each point of physical damage the character receives that is untreated, the character has -3% to his or her connection rolls. This penalty does not apply to missile weapons or thrown weapons with regards to injuries taken on the legs.
Once an injury has been treated, the penalty for the wound is reduced to -1% for each point of physical damage. However, if the injury goes untreated for a period of time, especially after strenuous physical activity, then the penalty rises to -2% per point of physical damage on an old wound. Once again, these penalties do not apply to missile weapons or thrown weapons with regards to leg injuries.
In addition, all physical skill checks are at -1 for each limbed injured, -2 if the torso is injured, -2 if the head is injured, and -3 if a limb is disabled. These penalties are cumulative for the total, but do not stack in a region. For example, two injuries on the same arm only force a -1 penalty, unless the arm is disabled, in which case the injuries would force a -3 penalty. However, an injury on each arm would force a penalty of -2.
Leg injuries will reduce movement.
Arm injuries will reduce effective Strength.