CORE RULES ~ CHAPTER VIII
VIII. Other in-game rules
VIII.1. Injuries and death
Any character is subject to damage that can be of different types, making his status injured (for details, see States of the character). When a character is wounded, he loses points directly in a KS or US:
Physical damage affects Build and Control and related US;
Mental damage affects Intellect and Empathy and related US.
There are other types of damage, like magic effects or other external causes (i.e. poison, disease, burn and so forth), in these cases the damage indicates what are the affected KS and US.
A character can take damage up to the sum of the addressed KS and US. This happens by deducting the same number of points of the damage first from the US (until it reaches 0) and eventually from the related KS. The reduced value of a KS or US is considered a temporary value (the player should always keep the original value). Until restored, the character acts with the temporary values in the affected stats.
A ranger has BU 6 (and VIG 3, known only by the GM); he is attacked by a wolf whose bites cause him 4 points of total damage. At the end of the turn the GM sets VIG temporary score to 0 and informs the player that his PC has a temporary BU of 5: the 4 points are used to set VIG to 0 and decrease BU by 1 point. From now on, the character acts with these scores until recovery by means of healing either natural or magical.
Once the amount of suffered damage equal to the sum of KS and US has reached, the character has a value of zero in the KS (or even negative if the damage exceeds KS+US): in this circumstance the states provided in First level of attributes (and detailed in States of the character) are applied from the next turn onwards.
The first turn when KS+US is at zero (or below), the character has a number of turns equal to the total value of the stats involved before the status of the character is permanent: this is called fatality countdown.
Keeping on with the previous example, the wounded ranger, after an additional turn of melee with the wolf, takes 6 damage. With the score of VIG at 0 and BU at 5, the ranger finds himself with a score of -1 in BU at the end of that turn. The ranger is dead (according to states in States of the character) and from the following turn the ranger will be in such status for 9 turns (the sum of the original scores of the involved stats, BU and VIG). In such a timeframe, anyone can step in to help the ranger (i.e. healing or magic), otherwise, at the end of the ninth turn, the ranger is permanently dead.
VIII.2. Recovery and healing
A reduction in stats due to damage suffered can be regained with a pace which depends on the recovery.
If damage is recovered naturally, the rate of recovery is 1d3 points per day; this only works in case of total rest. Recovery is managed by the GM and follows an order: first the KS up to its original value and then the US.
If the injured character does not rest, the natural rate of recovery is suspended if the character takes basic actions like standing up, eating meals at the table or simply walking at a base MOV; if the character acts normally as if he is not injured, the rate is otherwise negative (additional 1 damage per day). Natural recovery resumes once total rest is restored.
When damage is recovered with magic, the rate of recovery is immediate; the drawback of magic healing is that the character ages 1 week per healed point. The GM keeps track of the weeks of life added due to magical healing and ages of the character accordingly.
Other means of healing can be found, like a potion or a magic item. In this case, every item describes the recovery (and if it causes accelerated ageing).
The GM can decide to place in the game a potion of healing which doubles the rate of natural recovery: this means that once quaffed, the character heals 2d3 points in the next 24 hours. The GM might make this potion last for more days, making recovery slower than it naturally would.
The recovery rules of the present chapter apply for any decrease in stats, also for disease or poisoning if not otherwise specified (in that case it is necessary to follow the indications of the contracted disease or poison).
VIII.3. Non-combat cases
Some circumstances need to be better detailed to provide the GM with guidelines consistent to the other game mechanics.
Climb: there are two ways to climb. The first is to climb on surfaces that have grips: in this case the character must pass an ARCT on Stamina (the threshold is defined by the GM). The second way to climb is on surfaces without grips: in this case it is mandatory to use a tool such as a rope and grappling hook (an ARCT on Stamina with a low threshold may be requested by the GM).
Disease: diseases are detailed within the setting, however these reduce character stats just like a wound by a weapon damage (if not stated otherwise). Recovery can be specified in the description of the disease and may not follow the standard rules (see Recovery and healing). The state of the sick character is injured (see States of the character) because it has one or more reduced stats. In order to find a suitable cure for a disease, a successful check is required on ES Education medicine. A disease is only eradicated when all the lost stat points are recovered by the subject (if a partial recovery occurs, the disease may still affect the victim and eventually start losing stat points again).
Falling damage: any character suffers 1 damage per meter of fall from the 3rd meter onwards; no damage is inflicted for any fall from 1 or 2 meters. A success in an ARCT on Body Control can grant a relief equal to the positive difference between the check and the threshold. The threshold definition is up to the GM, a sound rule is the meters of fall as threshold (thus, trivial for 3-5 meters, easy for 6-8 meters, and so forth).
A character is on the roof of a house and loses his balance; he tumbles down the roof and then falls to the ground making a fall of 6 meters: the character suffers 4 fall damage (the entire height minus the first two meters). In case the character has the ES Body Control, he can perform an ARCT with a threshold easy (6): if the result of the check is 9, the ARC is successful and the damage is 1 (the damage is 4 reduced by 3, which is the difference between the result of the check and the threshold).
Jump: any character can perform two types of jump; the first is a running jump that involves a sprint turn at maximum speed; the second is a simple jump that involves a couple of steps only and no sprint. In the first case, the character can jump a maximum of meters equal to (Agility - 2); in the second case he can jump half of the distance, (Agility - 2)/2. This rule is based on the unencumbered status; otherwise the malus is increased by -2 per every step: (Agility – 4) for light burden, (Agility – 6) for medium burden, (Agility – 8) for heavy burden; a character with full burden or overloaded cannot jump.
Literacy: in the game every character is illiterate: he is able to speak his mother tongue but cannot read or write. This ability comes from the ES Education literature: the level of knowledge, of course, varies from a score of 1 (spelling words instead of reading) to a score of 10 (full command of the language). This logic applies also to any other language other than the mother tongue.
Poison: similar to disease, poisoning produces effects on a character that can result in a reduction of one or more stat. The poisoned character has an injured state (due to a lowered star, see States of the character) and healing does not necessarily follow the standard rule if otherwise specified. In order to diagnose and cure poisoning it is necessary to succeed a check of ES Education medicine or alchemy.
Prolonged action: the GM can request an ARCT performed with progressive thresholds when the character continues to carry out an action that implies an effort and possibly the Fatigued status (see States of the character). Once a character is fatigued, he suffers a malus of -1 in any check (including combat and magic casting). A rest of 1 turn per malus point removes this state. Should the character keep on acting, he has to succeed an ARCT on ES Stamina after every turn until a rest; the GM defines the threshold (which usually starts as trivial and it increases every time is requested a new ARCT). Every time the ARCT is failed, the negative modifier increases by 1 (therefore -2 after the second failure, -3 after the third and so on).
Starvation: every being has a level of resistance to hunger; a character begins to suffer starvation damage after 4 days without food: starting from this moment, the character suffers 1 cumulative damage for each day spent without food which applies to (BU + VIG). The same applies to dehydration, considering that the damage begins after 2 days (and not 4).
A character has Build 7 and Vigor 3; on the 5th day without food, he suffers 1 damage on Vigor, on the 6th day he suffers 2 damage on Vigor; after 6 days without food the character has 0 on Vigor; on the 7th day without food he suffers 3 damage on Build; on the 8th day, he suffers 4 damage and he has Build at 0: from now onwards, he is considered dead (see States of the character).
VIII.4. States of the character
Any character can achieve a state defined by the application of a rule.
Blind: a blind character can perform any action which requires his eyesight only with a result of 1 on 1d6 per action, per turn; in case of failure the character cannot accomplish the action.
Burdened/Overloaded: a character is burdened when he wears or carries anything more than normal clothes; the burden has different ranks from ‘light’ up to ‘full burden’. In case the character exceeds the full burden, he is overloaded: this state has a limited movement rate and does not allow actions like running or jumping (see Movement).
Coma: when a character reaches a score of 0 (or less) in IN, he is in coma; this state is temporary for a limited time and after that, it is permanent (see Injuries and death).
Deafened: the main drawback of a character who cannot hear is that he is unable to cast spells or counterspells; the GM can apply a malus according to the situation in any check where hearing is implied.
Death: when a character reaches a score of 0 (or less) in BU, he is dead; this state is temporary for a limited time and after that, it is permanent (see Injuries and death).
Exalted: this state is reached when a character has a score of 10 in SOM; this state grants an automatic success in any Reaction check (see Reaction) as well as a positive modifier in any check (see Character's State of Mind).
Fatigued: this status is caused by a prolonged effort by fighting, casting a spell or using an ES (when it is foreseen). Once a character fails the check on Stamina (due to a prolonged action), he is fatigued and suffers a -1 modifier which can worsen in case of further activity in the successive turns (see Non-combat cases).
Grappled/Entangled: a grappled character has not the use of arms and legs with all the consequences; an entangled character has only legs (or arms) blocked; the GM has to apply these inabilities within the “Other adjustments” according to the situation.
Injured: this status is reached whenever a character suffers a damage which lowers the score in a stat. This status implies that the character acts with a temporary reduced score in the stat as long as he recovers it (for details see Injuries and death and Recovery and healing).
Panicked: opposite to the exalted state, this state is when a character reaches a score of 1 in SOM; this grants a likely failure in Reaction checks (see Reaction) as well as a negative modifier in any check (see Character's State of Mind).
Paralysis: when a character reaches a score of 0 (or less) in CO, he is paralyzed; this state is temporary for a limited time and after that, it is permanent (see Injuries and death).
Prone: a prone character has a disadvantage in most cases; the GM should translate this disadvantage into a malus within the “Other adjustments” according to the situation.
Slowed/Hasted: a slowed character has MOV and number of actions halved while casting time and any other similar timeframe doubled; a hasted character has the exact opposite.
Starving/dehydrated: when a character either does not eat for 4 days or more or does not drink for 2 days or more (see Non-combat cases).
Stunned: if the target is hit with a stunning blow (see Actions in combat), he falls unconscious and he must perform an ES Stamina ARCT. In case of success, the target regains consciousness the following turn, while in case of failure, he needs to reperform an ARCT for a number of periods up to the relative threshold as described here below:
Surprised/under pressure: this is not properly a state of the character, rather it represents the circumstances of a character which enables him to perform a Reaction check (see Reaction).
Vegetative state: when a character reaches a score of 0 (or less) in EM, he is in vegetative state; this state is temporary for a limited time and after that, it is permanent (see Injuries and death).