2. Injury and Healing

Mortal Wounds and Stabilization:

• A creature reduced to zero hit points is dead or dying.

  • PCs and named NPCs will become Mortally Wounded

• Mortally Wounded creatures cannot move and unable to act.

  • Flavor this as screaming, writhing, or unconsciousness as you prefer. If, at the end of 6 rounds, the Mortally Wounded character is not stabilized, they will die. The Mortally Wounded character will also die instantly upon taking damage.

• Allies can attempt to stabilize Mortally Wounded characters.

  • Int/Heal or Dex/Heal skill check, requiring a Main Action.
  • Difficulty of the check is 8 plus the number of full rounds since the target was downed.
  • If you have no reasonable useful medical supplies , the difficulty check is increased by 2.
  • Only one stabilization attempt can be made per round, though this is a check that can be assisted.

• Once stabilized, the target recovers with 1 HP after ten minutes of rest. They can act normally after, though with the Frail condition.

  • Frail condition lasts until the PC is able to have a week of solid rest.
  • Frail PCs cannot heal through natural healing, and will die immediately if brought to 0 HP again.
  • A healer can try to remove the Frail condition with an hour of work, and against a skill check of 10. There is only one attempt to remove Frailty.

Natural and Magical Healing:

• A wounded creature recovers it’s level (if a PC) or hit dice (if an NPC) in lost HP after a solid night’s rest.
  • This assumes proper food and sleep.
  • Also removes one point of System Strain.
  • As mentioned in the previous section, Frail creatures do not receive these benefits.
• Magical Healing such as some Healer abilities, potions/elixirs of healing, or arcane artifacts:
  • Immediately loses Mortally Wounded and Frail statuses.

First Aid:

• Characters can use herbs, compounds, and simple medical techniques to apply first aid.
  • By spending a few minutes tending an ally, a healer can cure 1d6 plus the Heal skill in damage.
  • With no skill, the healer suffers a -1 to the roll.
  • Adds one point of System Strain for each instance of First Aid the party wishes to use.
  • Frail PCs can receive healing from First Aid, but it will not remove the Frail status.

System Strain:

• System Strain is a measure of how much stress the target’s body is under.
  • The amount of System Strain a character can accumulate is equal to their constitution score.
  • Each night of good rest removes one point of system strain.
  • If a target is at maximum system strain, the body cannot handle additional stress and there is no benefit from the effect or attempted healing.

Poisons and Diseases:

• Characters gets a Physical saving throw to avoid the effect of, or mitigate harm from, poisons.
  • Depending on the poison, can either be a +4 or -4 modifier to the saving throw.
  • Upon a failed save, the poison takes effect.
• Diseases are a much slower process.
  • If the first saving throw is a success, the infection is avoided. If not, the disease takes hold.
  • Saving throws can be done weekly to attempt to improve from the disease. A certain amount of successes can throw off a disease, while a certain amount of failures can lead to worse effects, or in the case of fatal diseases, death.
• Those with the Heal Skill can assist in the saving throws of others. This is equal to twice the Heal skill, or at Heal-0, a plus 1 modifier.

Common Hazards:

Falling:

• Most creatures will take 1d6 damage per 10 ft of fall distance. 20d6 is the maximum.
• Dangerous terrain (such as spikes or fire) at the bottom can add to this number.
• For situations where a controlled fall is a possibility, a creature can make a Dex/Exert or Str/Exert check to see if they can control their fall.
  • Calculate DC by the following equation: 7 + |Every 10 ft of fall distance|. For example, the DC for controlling a 56 ft fall would be 7 plus 5, for a DC of 12.
  • On a success this lowers the falling damage by half.

Suffocation:

• Creatures with no access to air can operate normally for one round (6 seconds) per point of Constitution. 10 rounds for most NPCs.
• If not moving or acting, this time can be quadrupled.
• Once out of breath, the creature must make a Physical save each round or take 1 HP of damage per Hit Die. Or, in the case of PCs, 1 HP per level.

Poisons:

• Typical dungeon poisons to deter intruders will force a Physical save or a loss of half the victim’s maximum hit points. Exceptionally potent poisons could potentially outright kill a victim.
  • If a character is left at 0 HP from poisons, it will take 1d6 minutes before they are Mortally Wounded, though they may not take any action during this time.
  • Antidotes applied during this time will put the character’s HP at 1.
• Healers can attempt to identify and counteract the toxin with an Int/Heal skill check for at least a DC of 10 (average poisons) or 12 (extremely deadly poisons).
• Aside from damage dealt to HP, additional effects can be associated with poisons such as additional System Strain or penalties to hit rolls and skill checks.
  • If the poison takes a character’s system strain above their limit, it acts as if the character has been taken to 0 HP (see above).