game aid Notes on Lifeblood

[roryb]

Lifeblood

Lifeblood represents how much punishment and wounding you can absorb before you keel over. It is based on a value of 10 plus the strength attribute of the character. When you are struck in combat, your body suffers wounds. The extent of the wounds suffered depends upon how powerful the blow was, and is expressed as a number of points. This comes off the Hero’s lifeblood total.

• If lifeblood falls to zero, you fall over, stunned. Next round, choose to (a) pass out due to injury, in which case you wake at the end of the fight and return to half lifeblood (rounded up), or (b) spend a Hero Point, take the next combat round to shake yourself out of your daze and recover half lifeblood (rounded up), and return to the fray the round after that.
• If lifeblood falls below zero, the character is unconscious and dying. He will lose 1 lifeblood each round until he dies (see below), receives medical attention, or the gods intervene (by the expenditure of a Hero Point).
• If, because of wounds received, lifeblood falls below –5, the character has died. Nothing short of godly intervention (in the form of the expenditure of a Hero Point) will save him.
• Non-player character (NPC) rabble have only 1 to 3 lifeblood. They are killed or rendered unconscious (the player’s choice) when they reach zero lifeblood or less.

Recovering lost lifeblood

As long as you are still at zero or positive lifeblood, and provided you get a chance to rest for about 10 or 15 minutes immediately after a battle and take a swig of water or wine, you will recover up to half your lost lifeblood straight away (rounding up). This represents recovery from fatigue, bashes, and minor cuts/bruises. Brawl damage (that is, damage where no weapons were used) is fully recovered in this time.

After that, you recover 1 lifeblood per day, if the day is taken up with only light activity.

Careers that enable a character to heal (physician, or perhaps alchemist if he has a potion or access to certain plants/herbs) are able to immediately heal 1 lifeblood per rank in the appropriate career. After that, they can make a Moderate Task Roll each day to double a character’s healing rate.

Stabilizing the dying

If you have received enough damage to reduce lifeblood to a negative number, you are down and dying. You will suffer the loss of 1 lifeblood every round until you reach –6, when you will die. This does not apply to damage received during a brawl, where no weapons were used. You will simply be unconscious and will recover within 10–15 minutes and then follow the rules for recovery shown above.

Before you reach –6, you can be stabilized by another character reaching you and making a Moderate Task Roll, using mind and any appropriate career. The difficulty is one level tougher for every negative lifeblood point suffered (essentially, double the current lifeblood as a Task Roll modifier).

Once stabilized, you are still out cold, but you will recover one lifeblood per day until you reach a positive total.