Lightly Wounded
Use the following formula to calculate the number of Wounds a PC can suffer before becoming Heavily Wounded:
- Divide the PC's (current) maximum Wounds score by 2 (rounded up)
- Add the PCs TB, including Unnatural Toughness
- This total is the number of Wounds a PC can suffer before becoming Heavily Wounded. To clarify, once the PC suffers Wounds in excess of this number he/she is considered Heavily Wounded. This number is referred to as the Heavy Threshold.
Heavily Wounded
Despite the labels (which are used entirely for purposes of record keeping), being Lightly Wounded doesn't necessarily indicate the PC has actually suffered any appreciable physical injury. The Wounds suffered in the Lightly Wounded category rather indicate solid blows that temporarily knock the breath from a PC's lungs or the exhaustion that results from continuous and tiresome movements associated with participating in combat.
However, it is when a PC enters the Heavily Wounded category that actual physical injuries (open cuts, abrasions, severe bruising, continuous but minor bleeding) are sustained.
A PC is considered Heavily Wounded once he/she has suffered Wounds in excess of his/her Heavy Threshold, but whose Wounds score also hasn't dropped below zero. Once a PC's Wounds score drops below zero he/she is considered Critically Injured.
Critically Injured
PCs whose Wounds scores are less than zero are considered Critically Injured and in need of immediate medical care, and any further Wounds suffered may very well result in death. Critical Injuries are rated as negative numbers, with -1 representing the least severe of Critical Injuries, and -10 rating as the most severe (almost always indicating a gruesome death).
Critical Injuries are obvious and legitimate injuries.
Wound Fatigue
When a PC suffers Wounds in combat (or as a result of Falling, Being On Fire, etc) he/she may suffer Fatigue as a result.
It is important to note the distinction between the terms "Wounds" and "Damage". Any Damage that exceeds a PC's AP protection (and Unnatural Toughness) translates to Wounds suffered (lowering the PC's current Wounds score).
That being said, if a PC is Heavily Wounded and suffers a number of Wounds in excess of TB x 2 from any one hit, he/she must make a Challenging (+/-0) Toughness Test; if the Test is failed (by any number of degrees) the PC suffers 1 Level of Fatigue. For each point of Unnatural Toughness a PC has he/she may add +5 to the Toughness Test to avoid Wound Fatigue.
An example: The Apostate (above) is Heavily Wounded, having suffered 13 Wounds (being just into the Heavily Wounded category). Trying to avoid apprehension by a troublesome Arbite, he attempts a hasty exit through the rear door of a warehouse but is struck by a solid hit to the Body from a Bolt Pistol, suffering 10 Wounds (his AP defeated by the weapon's Penetration value). As 10 is in excess of the Apostate's TB x 2 (6), he must make a Challenging (+/-0) Toughness Test or suffer 1 Level of Fatigue, and has also suffered a -6 Type Explosive Critical Injury to the Body (recorded as -6X Body).
"Normal" PCs are unlikely to suffer more than 1 Level of Wound Fatigue before being killed (or Burning Fate/Infamy). By way of contrast, Orks, Chaos Space Marines and Space Marines might suffer 2, 3, maybe even 4 Levels of Wound Fatigue (due to such things as having a greater margin in their Heavily Wounded category and True Grit), though they have a greater chance of resisting its effects due to their Unnatural Toughness.
As GM, I have ruled that True Grit is reserved for PCs (and significant/named NPC and creatures) that have an Unnatural Toughness of at least +1 or the Daemonic Trait. To clarify, the prerequisites for True Grit are Toughness 40 and/or Unnatural Toughness (1)/Daemonic(1).
Note the Unnatural Characteristics Trait as described in Dark Heresy, Rogue Trader and Deathwatch is significantly different in its application. A PC with a TB 5 and Unnatural Toughness (x2) in these games translates literally to Unnatural Toughness +5 in Black Crusade and Only War, meaning the PC would receive a +25 bonus to his Toughness Test to resist Wound Fatigue.
The highest possible bonus any PC may receive to his/her Toughness Test to resist Wound Fatigue is +50, and rolls of 91+ always fail.
Remember, the Daemonic Trait stacks with Unnatural Toughness. However, creatures with the Daemonic Trait are immune to Wound Fatigue, unless the Wounds suffered are caused by Blessed/Holy/Sanctified weapons.
Damage/Wound Mitigation
PCs may mitigate the Damage/Wounds they suffer by spending Fate/Infamy. The Player may wait until the final Damage total has been calculated before spending Fate/Infamy. Once the total Damage has been calculated, the PC may spend one (1) Fate/Infamy point to reduce the Damage from any one hit per Round by d10+1 points. Since Damage that defeats AP and Unnatural Toughness/Daemonic translates into Wounds, the Damage Mitigation also reduces any Wounds suffered (to a minimum of zero).
There is one exceptional note: Toxic. It is wiser to mitigate Damage caused by a hit, thus possibly eliminating the effects of Toxic altogether, rather than risk suffering any Wounds that would allow the Toxic Trait/Quality to take effect and thus requiring the PC to make a Toughness Test (though even if successful, the PC will still take a minimum of 1 Wound from Toxic; see previous post).
NOTE: This rule replaces PCs healing via the expenditure of Fate/Infamy.
So, you've been shot and beaten, but you've survived (for now). Now, the healing can begin.
Healing (General)
Damage Types and severity can make injuries more or less easy to treat. Following are the modifiers to Medicae Tests by Damage Type or injury severity:
- Impact (I) and Rending (R) +/-0
- Energy (E) and Explosive (X) -10
- Critical Injury -30
Healing Lightly and Heavily Wounded PCs
Lightly Wounded PCs may have their injuries treated immediately through the use of the Medicae Skill. Each injury is treated individually; the PC making the Test first chooses an injury to treat, then modifies his/her Medicae Skill by the Damage Type modifier (see above). The number of Wounds healed equals the DoS on the Medicae Test; excess DoS may not be applied to other injuries. Each injury may be treated only once per 24-hour period.
Additionally, a Lightly Wounded PC will naturally heal* a number of Wounds equal to his/her TB (including Unnatural Toughness/Daemonic) after 1 day (typically 24 hours) as long as the PC suffers no additional Wounds during that same time period.
A PC may continue to participate in strenuous activity (work detail, cross-country hiking/marching, even combat) and the PC will naturally recover TB Wounds as long as he/she does not suffer any further Wounds within the same 24-hour period in which the body is healing itself. Naturally healed Wounds may be applied to injuries of the Player's choice.
Heavily Wounded PCs may also have their injuries treated immediately through the use of the Medicae Skill. As with Lightly Wounded PCs, each injury is treated individually; the PC making the Test chooses which injury to treat, then modifies his/her Medicae Skill by the Damage Type modifier (see above). The number of Wounds healed is 1 point per 2 DoS on the Medicae Test; excess DoS may not be applied to other injuries. Each injury may be treated only once per 24-hour period.
Additionally, a Heavily Wounded PC will heal a number of Wounds equal to the Intelligence Bonus of the PC treating his injuries (including any Unnatural Intelligence) after 1 day (typically 24 hours) as long as the PC suffers no additional Wounds during that same time period. This is known as Extended Care. In order for the PC to heal these Wounds, the person treating the injuries must succeed (to any degree) on a Challenging (+/-0) Extended Care Medicae Test at the end of each 24-hour period.
A PC may continue to participate in strenuous activity (work detail, cross-country hiking/marching, even combat) and the PC will recover these IntB Wounds as long as he/she does not suffer any further Wounds within the same 24-hour period in which he/she is receiving Extended Care. These healed Wounds may be applied to injuries of the caregiver's choice.
*PCs with the Autosanguine Implant are always considered Lightly Wounded and add +2 to the number of Wounds naturally healed in a 24-hour period.
Important: When treating the injuries of Lightly and Heavily Wounded PCs, the rules for Medicae Tests (above) assume that treatment can be given in a non-combat, non-crisis environment. PCs receiving treatment of their injuries during a combat or in a crisis environment are considered to be receiving Combat Care. Combat Care Medicae Tests are made with an additional modifier of -20.
Any Medicae Tests made to treat injuries (including Extended and Combat Care Tests) that fail will not cause Lightly and Heavily Wounded PCs to worsen in condition. These rules are deliberately harsh (to limit protracted or particularly savage combats breaking down into heal-fests and, in extreme cases, to promote flight versus fight) without including additional deleterious effects.
Healing Critically Injured PCs
Critically Injured PCs must be moved as little as possible, may not participate in any strenuous activity (complete bed rest being ideal), and require continuous Critical Care.
Just as any other injuries, Critical Injuries are tracked and treated individually (IE: -4E Right Arm, -6I Body). Critical Injuries heal at a rate of 1 point per 3 days (typically 72 hours); the PC treating these injuries must pass (to any degree) a Very Hard (-30) Critical Care Medicae Test for each Critical Injury at the end of each 72-hour period for this healing to occur. When Critical Injuries are healing, the severity will lessen (IE: from -5 to -4) but do not apply new Critical Injury effects as they appear on the Critical Injury Tables.
Except in cases of extreme ability, treating Critically Injured PCs in combat or crisis situations (known as Combat Care) is nigh on impossible, resulting in an additional -20 to any Medicae Tests.
If a Critical Care Medicae Test is failed, the severity of the Critical Injury being treated will worsen by 1 Step (IE: from -5 to -6) for each 2 DoF, but do not apply new Critical Injury effects as they appear on the Critical Injury Tables. It is assumed the condition of the current Critical Injury simply worsens.
If a PC is moved a substantial distance, treated in an open/non-sheltered/unsanitary environment or participates in strenuous activity/combat while Critically Injured (and survives), he/she must make a Very Hard (-30) Toughness Test (Unnatural Toughness is N/A); the PC's Critical Injuries will worsen by 1 Step per 2 DoF.
All Critical Injuries must be completely healed before any other injuries may be treated or heal naturally.
Ideally, Players (and their PCs by extension) want to finish an Exploration, Investigation or Mission, but there may come a point when injuries within the group come to undermine their effectiveness, and continuing on their current course of action may prove counterproductive, even fatal for the remainder of the group. To offset the harsh rules of healing Critically Injured PCs, it is strongly suggested the GM assume all Critical Care Medicae Tests made by NPC caregivers succeed with 1 DoS (as long as adequate facilities are available), allowing Critically Injured PCs to return to Heavily Wounded status within a week, two at the most.
A simple 3 x 5 note card can be used to keep track of Wounds, Fatigue and Injuries. The layout looks something like this:
____________________________________________________________________
Myok Voy, Apostate TB: 3*
Current Maximum Wounds: 17 Wound Fatigue: 1 Total Fatigue: 1
Heavy Threshold:12
Injuries Location L/H/CI (Lightly/Heavily Wounded or Critically Injured, circle one)
Treated (y/n) 5E Body
Treated (y/n) 5I Body
Treated (y/n) 3E Left Arm
Treated (y/n)
Treated (y/n)
Critical Injuries
Treated (y/n) -6X Body, Blood Loss (after having taken an additional 10X to the Body)
Treated (y/n)
Treated (y/n)
____________________________________________________________________
* Meaning he takes Wound Fatigue from hits doing 10 or more Wounds when Heavily Wounded.
Things aren't looking good for Mr Voy. Of course this is just an example built from references further up this post. And for the guys in my Sunday game (if you're reading this), no, Myok Voy is not an Apostate. He's an Advisor. Ad-vis-or.
Okay, let's see...
Taking a look through the topics about which I've posted, I see I still need to share complete and revised lists of Special Ammunition types, weapon Qualities, and the (few) Talents and Traits that have been revised. Remember, at this point you can still use all weapons throughout all five games without immediate need for these lists, though I strongly recommend the use of all current FFG Errata.
There are other rules I have tweaked, Hordes being the biggest I've tackled. The concept of Hordes is approved by some, shunned by others. What I've tried to do is make the concept sensible in terms of massed zealots or military formations. Some people will continue to shun Hordes, and that's okay. They have their reasons, just as I have mine for doing this.
I'm not exactly sure which topic I'll come back with next time, but until then...
The internet is an overflowing fountain of inspiration for Warhammer 40K RP. Looking outside the niche that is 40K, science fiction in general, and even fantasy have provided quite a pile of images and maps for use in my games. I even read an "Explorer's Diary" on the Rogue Trader forums that mentioned a void ship named Vodyanoi. Those of you familiar with AD&D's venerable Fiend Folio will remember the first time you twisted that name past your lips. I was inspired to dig out those dusty tomes in search of "monsters" that could be made into aliens, and to revisit my love of classic Gothic horror (Poe, Stoker, Shelley, Doyle) and the Ravenloft setting.
A few images to get you started:
A Callixian Noble: http://gamrfeed.vgchartz.com/galleries/2010-12-13/the-last-story-character-art-20101213/the-last-story-character-art-20101213_1292232579.jpg
The forges of Gunmetal City: http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/2013/05/1359775531-8.jpg
Prometheum refinery: http://www.rawdlc.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/1359775534-3.jpg
Down-hive: http://fast1.onesite.com/capcom-unity.com/user/xantista/remember_me/remember_me__neo_paris_gameplay/large/df000e79376e2873c6e81e0d2550cd79.jpg?v=187800
Tau colony: http://www.wallpaperfo.com/thumbnails/detail/20120719/cityscapes%20futuristic%20fantasy%20art%20science%20fiction%201500x863%20wallpaper_www.wallpaperfo.com_93.jpg
Rak'Gol invaders: http://www.fengzhudesign.com/blog/fzd_gate_01b.JPG
Hive Spire promenade: http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/9/2011/04/prey_2_concept.jpg
Generatorium: http://www.igorstshirts.com/blog/conceptships/2012/james_paick/james_paick_07.jpg
Sororitas Convent Bastion: http://www.3dgrafika.cz/img/_gallery/14/14897.jpg
Get inspired!
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