Damage, Dismemberment and Death

Calculating Damage

There are several simple steps to follow to determine the damage done by a successful attack:

• Roll a d% to determine which area was hit. The chances of hitting each hit location are listed in the race descriptions, and are usually also recorded on the character sheet. Some players may prefer to use their hit roll for this purpose instead of rolling again. If you do this, be sure to reverse the digits of the roll; otherwise some areas (those corresponding to rolls above the character's skill level) will never be hit.

• (Optional) Subtract the attack roll from the attacker's skill level, and divide by ten, rounding down. This is the maximum amount of armour negation which can be achieved with this attack. Roll another d10, or use the number on the ones die of the d% attack roll, to determine the actual amount of armour negation (zero if this number is higher than the maximum for the attack). The defender's effective armour value for this attack is reduced by this amount. Note that Body Armour (see description under Skill Descriptions) cannot be negated.

  Sil is using a weapon for which she has a skill of 68. She rolls a 14 for her attack, for a difference of 54. She has a maximum armour negation of 5(=54/10 rounded down) this attack. Since the ones die was 4, she managed to negate 4 points. If her opponent has an armour value of 6 (5 from his armour, and 1 from Body Armour), his effective armour value against this attack will be 2(=6-4). If her opponent has an armour value of 4 (3 from armour and 1 from Body Armour), his effective armour value for this one attack will be 1, since his Body Armour cannot be negated.

• Roll for the amount of damage done by the blow (normally d6+m or 2d6+m where m is some modifier; these numbers are given in the weapon description in the Equipment chapter). Add or subtract any damage adjustment due to the attacker's size class (see the section on Size Classes in Other Rules), and subtract the defender's effective armour value. If the result is greater than zero, this is how much damage is actually inflicted. Otherwise, no damage is done.

• (Optional: see also the section on Equipment Hit Points in Equipment) By hitting an opponent, the attacker also does reflexive damage to his armour, and an equal amount to the attacking weapon (the character, if it was a bare-hand or bare-foot attack). The reflexive damage is the same as the amount of damage the armour absorbed. Some of the reflexive damage done to a character in the case of an unarmed attack will be absorbed by the armour they have in that location (generally hands or feet); there is no reflexive damage done to the defender as a result of the reflexive damage absorbed by the attacker's armour.

It should be apparent from this that, if you are using the optional armour negation rule, the higher your character's skill in a particular weapon is, the more armour you will be able to negate, and the more damage they will be able to do. Also, you may see that it is not usually a particularly good idea for characters to go around beating on people who are wearing heavy armour, using no weapon but their bare hands, unless they are highly skilled.

Damage Results

Once the damage has been calculated, subtract the result from the wounded character's current hit points in the affected hit location.

• If the result is less than the negative of the maximum hit points for that area, the area is beyond the power of modern medicine to restore (however, in a fantasy setting, magic may be able to correct the problem, and in a futuristic setting, cybernetic attachments or regrowth of limbs may be possible).

  If the area is one required for life (i.e. head, torso, or abdomen on most mammals), the character is dead.

  (Optional) If the area is a nonessential limb (i.e. arm or leg), the essential area to which it is most closely attached (i.e. arms are connected to the torso) will lose one hit point due to bleeding every minute until either the bleeding is stopped or the character dies (at which point the character may still be bleeding, but the point will be moot).

• If the result is less than zero, but not less than the negative of the maximum hit points for that area, the area becomes useless until healed to at least zero hit points. One additional hit point is lost every minute due to bleeding until the bleeding stops, or until the point above comes into play.

  If the area is one required for life, the character loses consciousness for as long as the area is useless.

• If the result is at least zero, the character is probably able to continue fighting, or flee, subject to the possibility of shock (see the Shock heading below).

• If, after all of this, the character is still standing, they will be subjected to a delay of a number of jiffies equal to the number of points of damage just taken.

Dirk takes a blow to the head which causes a massive 13 points of damage. Dirk has a maximum of 8 hit points in his head, but is currently reduced to 6 as a result of other injuries. The attack reduces Dirk to -7 hit points, which is more than -8, so Dirk only loses consciousness. However, if the bleeding is not stopped by a friend within two minutes, he will lose two more hit points, which would take him to -9, resulting in his death.

(Optional) Shock

If you are using the shock rule, each hit location should have an extra value listed on the character sheet. This value, called the shock level, will the maximum hit points of the character in that hit location, multiplied by their CON and divided by 100, rounding down.

Any time an attack inflicts damage at least equal to the shock value of the hit location, there is a chance the character will lose consciousness from shock. If a Constitution check succeeds, the character remains conscious. Otherwise, the character faints. An unconscious character is allowed another Constitution check every minute. As soon as one succeeds, the character wakes up. This is in addition to any other effects which may arise (it applies to all three cases listed).

Rutger is out rock climbing, and suffers a fall. Damage is done to several areas, but the worst wound is to his left leg. Rutger's CON is 68, so he has a maximum of 13(=68/5) hit points there, and a shock value of 8(=13*68/100). Rutger is already down to 9 hit points in that leg, and the wound causes 12 points of damage, reducing him to -3. 12 is more than 8, so he must make a Constitution check. The check is failed, so Rutger is unconscious, and losing one hit point in his leg every minute. If he remains unconscious for 10 minutes (which is unlikely, given his high Constitution), his leg will be lost, and his abdomen will begin to lose hit points.

Falling Damage

Characters and objects can fall some distance without taking any damage. This distance is determined by the surface they are falling onto.

Sample surfaces are shown in this table (assuming a human character who lands on their feet after the fall):

For other surfaces, or when there are other circumstances, the GM will rule on the safe distance.

When a character or object falls from a higher distance, they take 3 points of damage for every additional metre. They must also take a full round to get up after such a fall (assuming that they are capable of standing).

All distances are doubled for horizontal "falls". These happen most frequently when a character or object is thrown. For example, a human could be thrown horizontally 6 metres onto solid ground without suffering any noticeable damage.

When a character or object does suffer falling damage, the GM will determine which hit locations the damage is assigned to. The only restriction is that at least two body parts must take some damage (unless there is only one point taken). Some thought should be given to this; it usually does not make sense for a character's left arm and right leg to take the brunt of a fall.

Note: The exceptions to this rule are detailed in the Breakfall skill description.