Health and Strain

Health, Damage, and Death | Healing and Recovery | Special Damage Situations | Strain


Health, Damage, and Death

Health is the Sum of a Character's Strength and Vitality Attributes (Str + Vit = Health). Therefore, the Health of an average adult human male is 20.

Health (I will refer to it as Total Health to distinguish it) is a measure of a character's physical wellbeing and total capacity to survive physical punishment and damage before going unconscious. Current Health is the measure of a character's current level of damage. Current Health is simply Total Health minus any damage the Character has taken plus any healing he has received. Current Health may not rise above Total Health.

Example: Hargus has a Strength of 12 and a Vitality of 11. His Total Health is (12 + 11 =) 23. He has suffered 8 points of damage in a recent fight and was healed by a friend for 2 of those points. Therefore his Current Health is (23 - 8 + 2 =) 17.

Any time a character takes damage from an attack or other source, this damage (adjusted for any armor protection) is subtracted from the character's Current Health. If a character's Current Health drops to 1/4 or below of his Total Health, all Tests he makes are -1 because of the intense pain he is in.

If a character's Health drops to 0, then the character will fall unconscious, unless he spends a Strain every round to remain conscious. If he fails to spend a Strain he goes unconscious, and he may not opt to spend a Strain to regain consciousness at will. If he runs out of Strain, he goes unconscious at the end of the round he ran out of Strain. While he is at zero, all Tests are made at -2 due to the intense pain he is in (non-cumulative with the -1 from being below 1/4 of total Health). A character may spend a Strain each round to remove the negative modifier for pain. Or alternately, he may role against his Will to try to ignore the pain for that round.

If a character takes damage after going to zero, or enough damage to bring him past zero, any damage beyond his Total Health is referred to as Wounds. A character can take up to his to value of his Vitality in Wounds. Each round that a character has a Wound, he makes a test against his Vitality. If he fails, he takes an additional Wound from bleeding (internally or externally, GM's choice). If he succeeds, he does not take any Wounds from bleeding that round. If he succeeds for three rounds in a row, his wounds have closed for now. But if he takes any more damage, they reopen and he must start rolling to avoid bleeding again. Note that while wounded, the character must spend a Strain each round to remain conscious. If he fails to spend a Strain he goes unconscious, and he may not opt to spend a Strain to regain consciousness at will. If he runs out of Strain, he goes unconscious at the end of the round he ran out of Strain. While wounded, the character has a -2 to all Tests (including the test against Vitality for bleeding) because of the intense pain he is in (non-cumulative with -2 for being at zero).

If a character accumulates Wounds equal to the value of their Vitality, they die at the end of the round that this occurs. They may only stave off death by spending a Strain each round they are at this state. This is in addition to any Strain spent to remain conscious or for any other activity. If they take any more damage, they die immediately.

At anytime that a character is wounded, he or another character may spend a minimum of five rounds trying to bind the wounds to prevent stop the bleeding. The character continues to roll to avoid bleeding during this time. At the end of five rounds, the person binding the wounds roles against First-Aid or Physician. If they are successful, the wounded character's wounds have closed and he heals one Wound. If they fail, the character continues to lose wounds as normal. The role may be tried again as long as the wounded character is not dead yet.

Example: Hargus is in a battle. He was at full Health and Strain, but receives several sword blows from enemies and takes a total of 16 points of damage. His Current Health is now 4. Because 4 is less than 1/4 of his Health of 20, all his Tests are at -1 because of the pain from his wounds. He tries valiantly to fight the good fight, but takes another 6 damage. He goes to zero Current Health and takes 2 Wounds. All his Tests are now -2 because of the pain. He rolls against his adjusted Vitality of (10 - 2=) 8 to avoid bleeding for that round. He rolls a 12 and fails, so he bleeds and takes and extra Wound. He spends a Strain to remain conscious and tries to bandage his Wounds. He spends this round plus the next four rounds on First-Aid (and spends a Strain each round to remain conscious and, unfortunately, fails his Vitality Test against bleeding each these rounds) so he has 7 Wounds total and only 5 Strain left at the end of the five rounds. He Tests against his Will and succeeds, so he ignores the pain for that round and has no negative modifier. He then Tests against his First-Aid skill and succeeds. His bleeding has been stopped and he heals a Wound, going to 6 Wounds now. He decides that discretion is the better part of valor, and crawls away as best he can, spending Strain each round he is conscious. He manages to crawl for 5 rounds (he had only 5 Strain left) to put some distance between him and the bandits that attacked his party, and then collapses unconsciuous when he runs out of Strain.

Healing and Recovery

Once a character has stopped bleeding and can rest, they will start to heal (especially if they have someone attending them). For every two days of full rest, a wounded character may Test against his Vitality (still -2). If they succeed, then they heal one point. If they are attended by someone with a Physician skill they have no negative modifier to their Vitality to recover. Remember that a wounded character will remain unconscious unless they spend Strain to remain awake for a while. If they try to move significantly or do work while wounded, that day does not count for recovery. Also they may reopen their wounds (GM's fiat).

Once they have healed all their Wounds and are back up to zero Health, they regain a Health point a day. They may also Test against Vitality each day. If they succeed, then they regain an extra point of Health for that day. If they are attended by someone with the Physician skill, they have a +2 modifier to Vitality for this roll. If they move or do work during that day, they may only regain the one point; no Vitality Test is allowed for that day.

Special Situations

There are special situations, specifically in combat, that can arise when a character takes damage. The GM is free to use or ignore these at his leisure or as the situation suggests.

Knockback
Knockback occurs if a character receives more than 1/2 his Total Health in damage from a single attack (this is only damage that is left after figuring armor and any other protection). If a character takes this amount of damage, then they must Test against Strength or be knocked down to the ground and one meter back. If they succeed, they may act as normal that round. If they fail, they have been Knocked back, they lose any actions they have left for that round and are Stunned. Next round, they recover from the Stun and may get to their feet, taking the entire round to do so and using both actions for that round (a successful Acrobatics role will get them to their feet with a single action left for the round).

Example: Farthan the Fearsome has a Total Health of 25 and is hit for 15 points of damage. He is wearing Heavy Leathers, which subtract two points of damage from the blow. This leaves 13 points of damage. 13 is greater than half of his Total Health (1/2 x 25 = 12.5) so he is Knocked back. He tries to keep his feet and withstand the blow by Testing against his Strength. He rolls a 16, which is above his Strength of 13, so he fails. He is flung to the ground and knocked back a meter by the force of the blow and is Stunned for a round. After the round that he is stunned, he recovers and gets to his feet, using both his actions for that round. On the next round (or second round after he was Knocked back), he may act as normal (allowing for the fact that he was heavily wounded by that last attack).

Head Blows and Unconsciousness
When a character is struck in the head, specifically the back of the skull, there is a great likelihood of them falling unconscious. This is because a the brain stem (the medulla oblongata, which is the underneath the first swelling of the cranium above the last vertebra as the spine attaches to the skull) is the seat of autonomic functions of the brain, including breathing and consciousness. It is also somewhat less protected than the rest of the skull because it is located at the juncture of the spinal column and the skull. These two facts make it sensitive to shocks, such that a strong blow to it will often render a person unconscious. If a character is hit in the back or side of the skull (not the face or jaw or neck) then they must Test against their Vitality minus the amount of damage (adjusted for any protection, like a helmet) that was done. If the damage exceeds their Vitality, then the only way then can remain conscious is if they roll a one or two on the Test (which means they took the damage but somehow avoided any concussion), or if they spend a Strain a round to remain conscious (which means they are fighting to stay awake and aware and barely holding onto consciousnes). Once they fall unconscious, they will remain asleep until someone spends 5 rounds trying to bring them around (they get to Test once against unmodified Vitality to try to wake up) or will remain asleep for an hour and can Test against unmodified Vitality at the end of that hour and each successive hour (note that these Tests are only allowed if they have Strain left. If they have expended all their Strain and go unconscious, then they cannot be revived - see the Strain rules).

Scars, Maiming, and Crippling Blows
When a character takes a large amount of damage to a limb, it can be wounded quite seriously. When this occurs, while the character may be still able to remain conscious and active, the limb itself maybe horribly damaged. As a general rule, if a single limb or body part (hand, arm, foot, leg, neck, head, etc...) is hit in combat and takes more than 1/2 the character's total Health in a single blow, after figuring any protection, then that part is crippled. There is an immediate effect, usually the part ceasing to function for the combat. Additionally, until the part is seen to by a physician who can set, brace it, or treat it so it heals properly, the part interferes with the character's ability to act.

Body Part Immediate Effect Long-term Effect
Arm Test Pro or Drop what is held -2 to Pro with that Arm
Hand Test Pro or Drop what is held -2 to Pro with that Hand
Leg Test Pro or Fall to Ground
and lose any Actions for Rnd 		-2 to Move
Foot Test Pro or Fall to Ground
and lose any Actions for Rnd 		-2 to Move
Head Test Vit - Damage received
or Fall Unconscious 		-2 to Wisdom for one day
Neck Test Vit or Fall Unconscious and may take Suffocation Damage if larynx is partially crushed No Voice for one Day
Face Test Vit
or Fall unconscious 		-2 to any Social Skills until
aesthetic facial damage heals

As a general rule, if any target area takes 3/4 of the target Total Health in Damage from a single blow, then that area is either cut off or destroyed. The GM is free to interpret effects for individual target areas, but as a rule, if the face, neck, head, or heart takes such a blow, the target is dead (unless they are supernatural in nature or the GM intervenes).

Suffocation
When a character is denied air, by choking, spell, or drowning, then they are suffocating. A character does not take physical damage (or not a lot, unless the choker is really crushing their wind pipe) from suffocation. Instead, each round they lose a point of Strain from suffocation. When all their Strain is lost, they go unconscious. If the attacker or suffocation continues, they then take Wounds directly. However, in this case, there is no concern about normal Health or about bleeding (see above). If they take a number of Wounds equal to their Vitality, they die. If the character stops suffocating before they lose all their Wounds, then they may recover (you heal two Wounds of Suffocation Damage each hour until they are all recovered, then you make awaken as per normal Unconsciousness rules). It is assumed that if a character goes unconscious and the attacker continues to choke, the character will die automatically unless someone is around to rescue them, so it is not always necessary to keep track of rounds and Wounds after they are rendered unconscious.


Strain

Strain is a measure of a character's physical energy reserves. One can easily think of it as Chi, or Ka, or any other metaphor for the body's natural source of power. It is different and separate from a character's Will or mental energies, because it arises out of the physical body and is not a product of the mind. Nonetheless, it can be focused, directed, and used by the mind for various ends. These uses include but are not limited to: resisting unconsciousness and pain, increasing Strength, powering magickal spells and items, and pushing the limits of one's physical abilities. Generally, any time where Strain can be used I mention it when I cover a subject or topic. To avoid unnecessary repetition, I will not repeat that material here. Instead, for information not given here, please refer to the examples given in the rest of the text, including those in the Health, Magick, General Rules, and Combat sections.

General Strain Loss
After a significant amount of physical effort, a character will lose a point of Strain. After any combat, a character will lose a point of Strain from exhaustion and stale adrenaline.

Strain Loss and Unconsciousness
Strain can never fall below zero. If a character ever reaches zero Strain, at the end of the round where they used or lost their last Strain, they fall unconscious. They will remain unconscious for a minimum of two hours and regain one Strain at the end of the second hour. They may then role against Vitality at that point and at the end of each following hour to see if they wake up (they will regain 2 Strain per hour after second one that they are asleep). Only after the second hour can someone successfully revive them. If someone spends 5 rounds trying to wake them up (through various methods of slapping, shouting, pouring water over them, etc...) then they have a +3 to their Vitality Test to awaken. If they fail, they cannot be revived this hour and the reviver must wait another hour before trying again will be effective.

Recovering Strain
Strain is recovered by rest, sleep, or Meditation. The rules for Meditation are covered in the Magick Section. For each hour beyond the first that a character rests, doing nothing but talking or very light work (knitting, or cooking, or whittling wood), they regain one Strain. If they have a meal while resting, they regain one extra Strain (this is a one time bonus). For every hour of sleep beyond the first, a character regains two Strain. Generally, an average human male requires a minimum of 6 hours of sleep a night. Current Strain can never rise above Total Strain.

Example: Hargus has a 10 Total Strain, but his Current Strain is 2. He rests for a two hours by the fire and eats, and regains a single Strain for the hour of rest and a Strain for the meal. He then goes to sleep and sleeps for 4 hours. He regains two Strain for every hour beyond the first that he sleeps. Therefore, when he wakes up he has regained an additional 6 Strain. He is up to 10 Strain and he is ready to go.

If you wish to see some material on what I consider optional uses for Strain, especially for an Epic campaign with a lot of incredible feats and phenomenal acts, then check out my Optional Rules.