HEALTH
You do not have a pool of points that represent your health or how many hits you can take before falling. Instead, each time an attack penetrates your defenses and causes you pain – be it physical, mental, or soulish – you check to see how it affects you.
PAIN
Every time a blow or affect passes through your defenses and causes you harm, you accrue Pain. This damage is not serious injuries, like broken bones or major lacerations – but, the suffering it causes makes remaining active and conscious more difficult.
TEST YOUR METTLE
Anytime you take additional Pain, you must Test Your Mettle (TYM).
TYM is a Check using your Mettle stat with your current total Pain as the Target Number.
If you pass the Check (your Mettle meets or exceeds your Pain and your Cast Lot doesn’t say otherwise), you continue fighting.
If you fail the Check, you either fall Unconscious or Dying.
- If your current Pain is less than or equal to your Mettle stat, you fall Unconscious.
- If you current Pain is greater than your Mettle, you begin Dying.
UNCONSCIOUS
When you are knocked Unconscious, you are unable to perceive anything or act.
If you receive additional Pain while Unconscious, you Test Your Mettle as normal.
If you roll a CRIT on when TYM, the new pain jars you back into consciousness and you may begin acting again as normal.
If your Pain is reduced below your Mettle by healing or recovery, you regain consciousness.
DYING
In the Dying condition you are unconscious and incapable of acting and your body is starting the process of shutting down.
If you take any additional Pain while Dying, you continue to TYM. If you pass, your spirit remains in your body. If you fail, your spirit departs and you enter the Departed state.
If you are Stabilized, your spirit will remain in your body for a number of days equal to your Mettle. During that time, you may be healed as normal.
If you are not Stabilized, your spirit will depart your body in a number of minutes equal to your Mettle.
STABILIZED
A Dying character can be Stabilized by receiving successful healing aid from another character, or through herbs or magic.
Being Stabilized significantly increases the length of time that your spirit will remain in your body before it departs.
A Stabilize Check can be made using any of these Disciplines: Survival, Ingenuity, Lore, or Intuition as long as their our Uses of a relevant Kit available.
Each Check takes a number of minutes equal to the Dying character’s current Pain.
While Stabilized, you can receive healing as normal. Any healing delivered to a character who has not yet been Stabilized is wasted.
DEPARTED
When your spirit has Departed your body, you are permanently dead, barring any rare supernatural healing.
RATTLE
Rattle is a special condition that occurs when you are dazed, stunned, or shocked.
The amount of Rattled affecting you increases and decreases as one number as it is received or relieved.
When Rattled, you must either perform no other actions and focus on shaking off your Rattle, or subtract the amount of Rattle you have from all Checks – except TYM.
SHAKE IT OFF
You can Shake Off Rattle – reducing it by one for every Effort spent to shake it off. No other actions or movement can be done in parallel with shaking off Rattle. You must stand still.
RATTLE PENALTY
While Rattled, you can still attempt to perform normal actions. However, you must subtract the amount of Rattle you have from all Checks, Offensive Maneuvers, and Defensive Maneuvers – including passive defense.
If continue acting without stopping to try to shake off Rattle it still eventually wears off, but much slower than t would have if you have shook it off.
You may remove 1 Rattle for every 4 Effort spent doing any activity other than attempting to shake it off.
INJURIES
Injuries are the type of damage that cause a lingering, detrimental effect – such as a torn or lacerated muscle, a broken bone, or a sprained joint. They are dealt as Injury Penalties that should be tracked on your character sheet individually as they occur.
Injury Penalties are subtracted from any and all Checks that are made (or added the Target Number, but never both).
NOTE
Injury Penalties are tracked individually because they heal in parallel with one another when a character gains the benefits of Respite. Certain esoteric means can also target an entire Injury and not just a penalty amount.
RECOVERY
Pain and Injuries are recovered by taking Adequate Rest or by the use of esoteric means such as herbs or magic – or by a combination of these.
Characters recover from Rattle very quickly outside of combat – remove one Rattle per second.
ADEQUATE REST
To gain the benefits of Adequate Rest, you must spend at least one hour without Strenuous Activity or Circumstances. For each hour of Adequate Rest, you remove one Pain.
Strenuous Activity & Circumstances
Strenuous Activity & Circumstances are any movement while suffering from a Hindrance penalty, any movement at a rate faster than your normal Stride, or receiving any new Pain, Rattle, or Injuries – be it through combat or through environmental conditions such as extreme weather or natural forces.
You can attempt things like Checks, training, experiments, social interactions, and other downtime activities without interrupting your Adequate Rest – unless any of them cause you to take any Pain, Rattle, or Injuries.
RESPITE
To gain the benefits of a Respite, you must complete a full 24 hours of Adequate Rest.
At the end of this 24 hour period, you can remove one from each of your Injuries. You also remove one Pain per hour of Adequate Rest as each hour passes towards your attempt at gaining the benefits of a Respite.