2.5.0 Injury, Healing, And System Strain

Injury is almost inevitable in an adventurer’s career. Some forms of it can be longer-lasting than others.

2.5.1 Mortal Injury and Stabilization

When a PC is reduced to zero hit points by a lethal attack, they are Mortally Injured. They will die at the end of the sixth round after their incapacitation unless stabilized by an ally or some special ability. A Mortally Wounded character is helpless, and can take no actions and do nothing useful.

Stabilizing an ally is usually a Main Action that requires a Dex/Heal or Int/Heal skill check. The difficulty is 8 plus the number of full rounds since the target fell. If the medic lacks a healer’s kit or other tools, this difficulty is increased by 2. Only one ally can try to stabilize a victim per round, though others can attempt to aid their check, but attempts may be retried each round for as long as hope lasts.

Once stabilized the victim remains incapacitated for ten minutes before recovering with 1 hit point and the Frail condition. They may act normally after they recover, but if they are reduced to zero hit points again while still Frail, they die instantly. Frailty is removed by a week of bed rest and medical care. A physician can also make one attempt to remove Frailty with a healer’s kit and an hour of work, rolling a Dex/Heal or Int/Heal skill check against difficulty 10.

2.5.1.1 NPCs and Mortal Injury

NPCs who aren’t important enough to merit a name usually die instantly when reduced to zero hit points.

2.5.1.2 Catastrophic Damage

Targets reduced to zero hit points by some injury or cause that could not be reasonably survivable are instantly killed. An arrow hole might be patched; a direct hit with a house-sized boulder or a plunge off a thousand-foot precipice is less survivable. What counts as “not reasonably survivable” may vary with inhumanly durable targets.

2.5.1.3 Non-Lethal Incapacitation

If a target is brought to zero hit points by a non-lethal attack, they are incapacitated for ten minutes before regaining 1 hit point. They do not become Frail.

2.5.2 System Strain

Magical forms of healing or use of powerful augmenting magic can take a toll on a user’s physiology. Their System Strain total reflects the total amount of stress their body has undergone.

A healthy character normally starts at zero System Strain and has their Constitution score as their allowed maximum. A character cannot accumulate more than this maximum in System Strain.

Magical healing and certain spells and abilities will add to a subject’s System Strain. If this addition would put them over their maximum they cannot activate the spell, benefit from healing, or otherwise gain any use from the ability. If they are forced over the maximum by some unavoidable effect, they are instead knocked unconscious for at least an hour.

Characters lose one point of accumulated System Strain after each night’s rest, assuming they are warm, fed, and comfortable and can get at least eight uninterrupted hours of sleep. Cold camps, stony bedding, and other sources of privation prevent this recuperation.

2.5.3 Natural Healing

A wounded creature can recover hit points by getting a good night’s rest and adequate food. Provided they are warm, fed, and comfort able, they regain hit points each morning equal to their experience level, or equal to their hit dice if they are NPCs. Characters suffering some form of privation do not recover hit points through sleep.

Frail creatures do not recover hit points through natural healing. They must cure their Frail condition first or rely on pharmaceuticals. Removing the Frail condition requires a full week of bed rest and the medical attention of someone with at least Heal-0 skill and a healer’s kit. Frail victims without this level of medical care must make a Physical save after a week; on a failure they die sometime in the next week, while success means they lose their Frailty after another month’s rest.

2.5.4 First Aid

Healers can patch up victims in a hurry, albeit at a cost to their physical resilience. By spending one minute patching up an ally with a healer’s kit, a healer can heal 1d6 points of damage plus their Heal skill. If they lack any Heal skill at all, they restore 1d6-1 points. Each such application of first aid adds one System Strain to the target. First aid can restore hit points to a Frail target, but it cannot remove their Frailty.

One ten-minute turn is enough time for a healer to apply as much first aid as is wanted to the rest of their party.

2.5.5 Poisons and Diseases

Most toxins force a victim to make a Physical saving throw to resist their effects or mitigate their harm. Weak perils might grant as much as a +4 to the saving throw, while dire threats might apply a -4 penalty.

If the save is failed, the poison or disease takes hold. Most poisons act quickly, inflicting hit point damage, adding System Strain to the target, or applying long-lasting penalties. Diseases can have a slower onset but often apply the same sort of harms.

A medic who gets to a poisoned person within a minute of the poisoning can use a healer’s kit to give them a better chance to resist. They may add twice their Heal skill level to the victim’s saving throw roll, or +1 if they have only Heal-0 skill. Specialized antitoxins may be able to neutralize such poisons entirely.