Creature or Object Toughness:
6 + (3 x Scale) + Endurance + Defence
All characters, creatures, and objects (referred to simply as "characters" from here on out) have a Toughness score. For an average, unarmoured human, this works out to be 9.
All characters and objects also have a Minimum Toughness, which is simply 6 lower than their toughness. An unarmoured, average human therefore has 3 minimum Toughness.
Objects, which have no endurance, are treated as having an endurance of 3 in this case.
Defence bonuses are added to toughness, along with endurance and scale bonuses. The most common form of defence boost comes from worn armour. There are several other types of Defence, however:
Natural Armour: This is an amour bonus that comes from having thick skin, scales, bony plates, etc.. Creatures have a +0 natural armour bonus unless otherwise specified, which is why armour bonuses lower than +0 can‚t decrease your toughness. If you are wearing a paper shirt (defence …bonus‚ -3), you don‚t decrease your toughness. Your natural armour takes over, with its +0.
Durability: This bonus comes from the material an object is made out of. Living creatures usually do not have a Durability Defence bonus.
Unarmoured: This bonus is granted by the Unarmoured skill.
Stacking Bonuses: The bonuses from different Defence sources do not stack.
If a character takes more damage from an attack than his Minimum Toughness, he is wounded. A wound decreases the character's Toughness (and therefore Minimum Toughness) by 1.
If a character ever takes equal to or more than his Toughness in damage from a single hit, he starts dying. A dying character is unconscious and must make a DC 4 endurance check every round, with a -1 penalty for every wound the character has. Success means he gets to make another check next round. For every failed check, the DC increases by 1. If the DC becomes too high for the character to be able to succeed (ex., the character has Endurance 3 and the DC is higher than 9), then the character dies. If a dying character gets wounded while dying, he dies.
A dying character has a 10% (a roll of 10 on a d10) chance to stabilize each round. A stabilized character is still unconscious, but is no longer in danger of dying. A successful Medicine check can also stabilize a dying character.
If a character dies, a timely Medicine check, using Resuscitate, can bring character back to life.
Characters heal one wound every day that they spend with at least eight hours of sleep, and a number of wounds equal to their Endurance score every day that they spend bedridden.
Wounded objects don't generally heal. An object that takes more damage than it's Toughness is destroyed. A destroyed object is unusable. Objects can be repaired using the Engineering skill, however.
Wound: A wound decreases the character's Toughness (and therefore Minimum Toughness) by 1. A character can have several wounds. The effects stack.
Mobility Penalty: Mobility penalties represent encumbrance (usually) from armour or from carrying heavy objects. Mobility penalties are subtracted from your bonus to the following skills: Acrobatics, Athletics, Wrestle, and Stealth. Each mobility penalty also subtracts half a square of movement from your speed. If you have multiple movement types (such as the ability to either walk or fly), it subtracts from all of their speeds. Multiple mobility penalties stack. If you are piloting a vehicle which has a mobility penalty, the penalty applies to all Pilot checks you make. Similarly, when riding a mount, the mount‚s mobility penalties are subtracted from your Ride bonus.
Morale Penalty: A morale penalty is like a wound, but to the character‚s Will instead of his Toughness. A morale penalty decreases the character‚s Will (and therefore Minimum Will) by 1 point. If a character hits zero Will, he gains the Broken status.
Flat-Footed: Caught by surprise. A flat-footed character may not make any defence rolls (block, dodge, parry) and is vulnerable to a Sneak Attack (see Stealth Skill).
Confused: The character is driven totally insane (usually temporarily). This is usually caused only by supernatural abilities. Roll once on the Confusion chart every round to see what the character does. If the result doesn't really make any sense, the GM can roll again, or make up something for the character to do.
Panicked: The character flees as fast as possible from the source of fear, as well as any other dangers he encounters during the escape. If there are multiple possible escape paths, roll a scatter die and run in that direction. The character may still make defence rolls normally. A panicked creature can use spells, skills, and techniques to aid the flight, and in fact must do so if they are the fastest means of escape. A fleeing character will attack anyone that prevents him from fleeing.
|
d20 Roll |
Action |
|
1 |
Roll the die again, ignoring any future results of '1.' The character is confused for an additional 1d6 rounds. |
|
2 |
Roll a scatter die. Character uses whichever spell, combo and weapon combination the GM thinks most deadly against the creature closest to that direction. |
|
3 |
Character uses whichever spell, combo and weapon combination the GM thinks most deadly against whichever creature the character dislikes the most. |
|
4 |
Character uses whichever spell, combo and weapon combination the GM thinks most deadly against whichever creature is closest |
|
5 |
Creature is Panicked for this round |
|
6 |
Reroll the die. The character screams as loudly as he can while doing whatever the reroll says, ignoring any results of '5' |
|
7 |
Roll a scatter die. Character throws whatever it is holding in the creature closest to that direction. |
|
8 |
Character attacks nearest creature with its least powerful (but still harmful) attack once |
|
9 |
Character drops what he is holding |
|
10 |
Character stares off into space |
|
11 |
Roll a scatter die. The character walks in that direction (3 seconds of movement) |
|
12 |
Roll a scatter die. The character runs in that direction. |
|
13 |
Character hallucinates ghostly attackers, and attacks random space. The character is flanked for the round. |
|
14 |
Character falls prone |
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15 |
Character sits down (counts as a crouch) |
|
16 | |
|
17 | |
|
18 |
Player regains control for the round |
|
19 |
Player regains control for 1d6 rounds |
|
20 |
Player regains control for one minute |
Stunned: Hit so hard your senses are jostled. Usually only lasts for a few seconds. The character cannot take any actions for the duration he is stunned, though he can still make defence rolls as normal.
Staggered: A staggered character rolls 1d6 every round. He is stunned (as above) for that many seconds. The staggered condition usually lasts for 1d6 rounds.
Disabled: The character is, well, disabled. He can't walk, but can crawl as a 4SA one square. The character can't use any weapon heavier than light. The character can't use any combos, but can make single attacks. The character can only take the equivalent of 3 seconds of action every round (doing anything takes roughly twice as long)
Broken: If a character's will is reduced to 0, he gains the Broken status, effectively giving up. He cannot take any actions, move, speak, or make defence rolls. The character is also Helpless.
Helpless: A Helpless character is one who, for whatever reason, cannot react to his surroundings. He may be unconscious, have a Broken morale, or be paralyzed. Melee attacks against a Helpless character automatically hit. Helpless characters cannot make defence rolls.
Unconscious: Unconscious characters are also always Helpless. They do not wake up simply from loud noise or violent motion. A character who falls unconscious wakes up in 1d4 hours per wound it has taken, unless otherwise specified. When a character first wakes up from being unconscious, he is flat-footed for one round.
Sleeping: Sleeping characters are also always Helpless. Unlike unconscious characters, a sleeping character will wake up if it hears a noise louder than DC -5. However, characters get a -6 penalty to Perception checks while asleep. When a character first wakes up from being asleep, he is flat-footed for one round.
Dying: If a character ever takes more than his Toughness in damage from a single hit, he starts dying. A dying character is unconscious and must make a DC 6 endurance check every round. Success means he gets to make another check next round (yay!) For every failed check, the DC increases by 1. If the DC becomes too high for the character to be able to succeed (ex., the character has Endurance 3 and the DC is higher than 9), then the character dies. If a dying character gets wounded while dying, he dies.
Soul Coma: If a body is deprived of its soul, it enters a coma-like state. It appears dead at casual glance „ a DC 7 Medicine or DC 8 Perception check reveals that it is alive. Every hour for which the spirit is away, make a Fortitude check against DC 1. The DC goes up for every hour which the spirit is away. On a failed check, the body beings Dying. A character can make a Treat Injury check against the same DC to keep it alive, and in this case the DC does not go up with every check, so a trained doctor can keep it alive virtually indefinitely. This falls under the Long-Term Care use of Medicine.
Held: Held characters can't make block or parry defence rolls, but can dodge with a -1 penalty. Less common defence rolls can be made or not made with GM discretion, unless otherwise specified.
Tired:
Piercing : Piercing damage is any that inflicts injuries primarily with a stabbing attack. Weapons that can deal piercing damage include spears, some swords and knives, bows, and firearms.
Bludgeoning : Bludgeoning damage comes from attacks that deal primarily blunt-force trauma. This could include a club, mace, collision with the ground, or even the shockwave of an explosion. As most bludgeoning weapons rely on a large mass to deal damage, bludgeoning weapons made out of lighter materials (such as aluminum, titanium, and mithril) deal one die smaller damage.
Slashing : Slashing weapons use a sharp edge to deal cutting damage. Weapons that deal slashing damage include most blades, axes, and shrapnel from explosions.
Electric : Electricity damage generally comes from magic or advanced technology. It shocks the target with a sudden jolt.
Heat : Heat damage is dealt by extremely high temperatures such as from fire magic, laser or plasma weaponry, or natural flames. Heat damage may include a risk of being lit on fire.
Cold : Cold damage is dealt by extremely low temperatures. Generally, this is the result of magic or extreme environments.
Chemical : Chemical damage results from a corrosive substance, such as a powerful acid or base.
EMP: This type of damage is unlike others. It only affects electronic devices, and as such probably is irrelevant in most fantasy settings. Only objects such as vehicles, robots, and electronic equipment are vulnerable to an EMP. The resistance to EMPs that an object has depends on its complexity. Armour, size, etc. is irrelevant.
|
Type |
EMP Toughness |
Examples |
|
Very Simple |
8 |
A flashlight |
|
Simple |
7 | |
|
Moderate |
6 |
Civilian cars, motorcycles, and airplanes, a radio |
|
Complicated |
4 |
Cell phone, desktop or laptop computer |
|
Advanced |
3 |
Extremely complicated precision computers, robots |
If a device takes more EMP damage than its EMP toughness, it ceases to function without repairs. (see the Repair skill)
Nonlethal Damage: this is not a damage type in itself, but always comes with another one. Ex. nonlethal Chemical or nonlethal Bludgeoning. It functions exactly like normal damage with regards to wounds, but in the case of a would-be-fatal attack with nonlethal damage, the target is simply knocked unconscious instead of killed. Objects are immune to nonlethal damage.