Injury and death

(This section replaces the section with the same title in the PHB. )

[Note: Combat in BIRTHRIGHT is frequently deadly, much more so than in a regular DnD campaign. The modified rules covering injury and death represent this.]

Damage is expressed using three different scores:

Hit points: An abstract representation of a character’s general level of toughness, stamina or ability to withstand trauma. Hit points are also a measure of general combat experience and skill at arms. Big, tough creatures and experienced warriors have a large number of hit points, while smaller creatures or those less experienced in combat have lower values. Losing hit points isn’t terribly dangerous; you are never in any mortal danger.

Wound points: Represent a creature’s ability to take major wounds without dying. Unlike hit points, wound points do not increase with experience - a veteran knight is no more likely to survive a dagger through the hearth that a lowly commoner. Taking wound points mean that you are in serious trouble - unconsciousness and death is not far away.

Lethal damage: This represents injuries that are immediately life threatening. If you take any lethal damage, that means you are probably going to die if not given expert medical attention or magical healing.

[Note: HP = (fixed dice + Constitution modifier) x (level or hit dice).]

[Note: WP = 10 + Strength modifier + Constitution modifier + Size modifier.]

Whenever you take damage, you take hit point damage as long as you have any hit points left. Once your hit points are gone, you will start taking wound point damage instead. If you have no wound points, you take lethal damage.

There are a few exceptions to this rule:

Helpless defenders: Any damage dealt to helpless defenders is taken as wound point damage, even if they have any remaining hit points.

Wounds from massive damage: If you ever sustain 25 hit points (20 points for small characters, 30 for large) of damage or more due to a single attack, you must make a Fortitude save (DC 15) or take an additional 1d6 wound point damage (even if you have any hit points left).

Death from massive damage: If you ever sustain 50 hit points (40 points for small characters, 60 for large) of damage or more due to a single attack, you must make a Fortitude save (DC 15) or die. Even if you do survive, you take an extra 1d6 wound point damage (even if you have any hit points left).

Trauma: Trauma is the initial pain caused by a wounding blow. Trauma penalties generally fade quickly, but in the case of serious wounds the pain subsists.

Wound penalties: Injuries hamper your performance. Wound penalties can be reduced by successful first aid, both mundane and magical.

First aid: A successful Heal check or healing spell can reduce or remove wound penalties, even if the character isn’t fully healed. Of course, if a character’s condition improves to a less severe state of injury, his wound penalties will be reduced accordingly regardless of qualified first aid or not.

Minor wounds are not very serious and have little or no effect on your abilities. Minor wounds heal in a matter of days. Examples: scrapes, shallow cuts, minor bruises etc.

Trauma: None.

Wound penalties: None.

First aid: A successful Heal check (DC10; 1 minute) heals 1 hit point. Once a successful check is made, the same character cannot benefit from additional first aid until he suffers more damage.

Light wounds are only slightly more serious than minor wounds. You are slightly hampered, but not excessively so. Given several days of bed rest, your injuries will heal by themselves. Examples: Twisted ankle, bleeding cut to the forehead, shallow arrow wound, bruised ribs etc.

Trauma: You are staggered until the end of your next action.

[A staggered character can only take a partial action when he would normally be able to take a standard action.]

Wound penalties: You suffer a -2 penalty to Strength and Dexterity.

First aid: A successful Heal check (DC 12; 5 minutes) or a cure light wounds or better healing spell will remove the wound penalty. This effect lasts until you suffer additional damage.

Moderate wounds are pretty serious, but not life threatening. Your performance will be reduced, but not excessively so. Healing will take at least a week of bed rest. Examples: A deep, bleeding cut to the leg, several broken ribs or a smashed collarbone, a heavy concussion etc.

Trauma: You are stunned until the end of your next action.

[Stunned characters may not take any actions, lose Dexterity bonus to AC and enemies gain a +2 bonus to hit them. Stunned characters can make a 5-foot step each round.]

Wound penalties: You are staggered as above. In addition, if you attempt anything particularly strenuous you must make a Fortitude save (DC 15) or be stunned for a round, instead. Should this check fail by 10 or more, you pass out and fall unconscious for 2d6 rounds. You have a -4 penalty to Strength and Dexterity.

[Strenuous activities include running, attacking, being attacked, casting a spell, or any ability that requires physical exertion (like tumbling) or mental concentration (sustaining a spell).]

[Unconscious characters are prone and helpless.]

First aid: A successful Heal check (DC 15; 10 minutes) or a cure moderate wounds or better healing spell will reduce the wound penalty. You are still staggered, but can engage in strenuous activities without problems. You suffer a -2 penalty to Strength and Dexterity. This effect lasts until you suffer additional damage.

[Note: Most creatures will try to flee or surrender once they are moderately wounded.]

Serious wounds are not immediately life threatening, but will eventually result in your death unless you get medical attention from a skilled healer. Recovering from serious wounds is time consuming, requiring weeks of bed rest, even if a skilled healer is present. Examples: Heavy internal bleedings, major bones broken, cracked skull etc.

Trauma: You are stunned indefinitely. You also fall prone unless you succeed at a Fortitude save (DC 18).

Wound penalties: You may make a Fortitude save (DC 18) to perform a partial action each round (you are considered staggered, not stunned this round). If the check fails you are stunned instead, and if the check fails by 10 or more you fall unconscious for 2d6 rounds. Any attempt at doing something strenuous fails; you take 1 wound point of damage, and fall unconscious for 2d6 rounds. You have a -8 penalty to Strength and Dexterity.

Additional damage: For every ten minutes that you are seriously wounded, you must make a Fortitude save (DC 18) or take 1 wound point of damage.

Stabilizing: If the save to avoid additional damage succeeds by 10 or more you have stabilized. You are staggered instead of stunned and you no longer need to save to avoid additional damage. If you try to do anything strenuous, that action fails, and you take 1 wound point of damage and are not considered stable anymore.

First aid: If another character spends at least 1 full minute tending you between each save, he can make a Heal skill check (DC18; 5 rounds) in place of your Fortitude save to avoid additional damage. Once you have stabilized, a successful Heal check (DC18; 30 minutes) allows you to perform as if moderately wounded until you take additional damage. A cure serious wounds or better healing spell will automatically stabilize a character and reduce his wound penalties.

[Note: Most characters simply fall to the ground, unable to do anything other than slowly expiring.]

Critical wounds are immediately life threatening. Unless you get immediate aid, you will die. Even with medical attention, even healing magic, death is more likely than not. Example: Amputated limbs, arterial bleeding, multiple internal injuries etc.

Trauma: You fall unconscious.

Wound effects: A character that takes any lethal damage must make a survival roll. Make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + accumulated lethal damage) or you are now dying.

Additional damage: Each round you are critically wounded, you must make a Fortitude save (DC 20) or take 1 point of lethal damage (and must make another survival roll).

Delaying death: If the survival roll succeeds by 10 or more you have delayed death. You remain unconscious but do not take damage each round. Instead you must make a Fortitude save (DC 20) each minute or take 1 point of lethal damage.

Stabilizing: If you survive for five minutes in critical condition, you have stabilized. You remain unconscious, and even slight movement can make you start taking damage again.

First aid: If another character spends all his time tending you, he can make Heal checks (DC 10 + accumulated damage or 20; 1 round or 1 minute) in place of your Fortitude saves. Once you have stabilized, a successful Heal check (DC20; 1 hour) returns you to consciousness and allows you to perform as if seriously wounded until you take additional damage. A cure critical wounds or better healing spell will automatically stabilize a critically wounded character and reduce the wound penalty.

[Survival chances are very slim unless you can get magical healing.]

If you fail you survival roll when in critical condition, you are now dying. A dying character is unconscious and expires in 1d6 rounds.

[Unless cured with a heal spell or similar magic the character will die.]

Incorporeal undead and some immobile creatures do not have strength scores. Such creatures do not have any wound points. They ignore any attack that wound normally deal wound point damage (such as receiving wound points from massive damage).When they reach negative hit points they are destroyed.

Undead, constructs and some other creatures do not have constitution scores. The modifier for having no constitution is +0 when calculating wound points. In addition, such creatures are not hampered by the loss of either hit points or wound points (they ignore all trauma and wound effects), but are immediately destroyed once they take lethal damage.

Hit points: You recover a number of hit points for each day of rest equal to character level plus constitution bonus each day. If you have complete rest you recover one and a half times this amount. If you are active you recover half as quickly.

Characters with only minor wounds recover twice as fast.

Moderate wounds: For each day of rest, you may make a Fortitude save (DC 15). If successful, you recover one wound point. You automatically recover one wound point per day of complete rest. If you are active, you do not recover any wound points.

Serious wounds: For each day of complete rest, you may make a Fortitude save (DC 18). If successful, you recover one wound point. If you are only resting, you do not recover any wound points. Characters that are active must make a Fortitude save (DC 18) or lose 1 wound point.

Lethal damage: For each day of complete rest, you may make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + lethal damage suffered). If successful, you recover one point of lethal damage (you are still unconscious, so any activity is out of the question). If this roll fails by 10 or more you are dying.

Ability damage is recovered at the rate of 1 point per day of rest, 1 ½ points for complete rest and ½ a point for being active.

Wounds: Moderately wounded characters recover at half this rate, and those seriously wounded at one quarter this rate. Characters who have taken lethal damage do not recover ability damage.

If you are successfully tended by a character with the Heal skill, you recover twice as fast. The Heal check can also be used in place of any of your Fortitude saves to regain hit points, or to prevent the loss of new ones.

Magical healing works differently depending on the type of damage being cured. Note that a magical spell of sufficient level also will provide the benefits of first aid (for example a character who has taken more than ½ his wound points will be given first aid by a cure serious wounds or higher level healing spell).

Hit points: Healing magic cures the listed number of hit points.

[All cure and heal spells have a casting time of 1 round, not 1 action.]

Wound points: Healing magic cast as an augmented ritual cures 1 wound point for each spell level of the healing spell being cast.

[Casting a cure or a heal spell as an augmented ritual takes a base time of 1 minute (1x10 rounds).]

Lethal damage: Healing magic less powerful than heal normally cannot cure lethal damage. Instead, it can be used to give a one-time bonus to a Heal check or Fortitude save to recover lethal damage. The bonus is equal to the level of the spell being cast. A character can only benefits from the highest-level spell cast in this manner. A heal or equivalent spell cures all lethal damage and leaves the character at 0 WP.