VIII. PAIN AND SUFFERING

There are two types of injury: Stamina and Health.

A character loses Stamina by taking damage or through heavy exertion. When the Stamina of a character is reduced to zero, he falls unconscious.

An unconscious individual is senseless and can take no action whatsoever. Any attacks directed against him need only hit the spot where he is lying (which means that melee attacks nearly always hit). The character gets no defensive actions (but does still get the benefits of his Strength and armor).

Stamina is recovered by rest. A character will recover an amount of Stamina equal to his Constitution for every round (six seconds) of complete rest. A resting character cannot move or take any action, not even defensive ones; he must sit still and catch his breath.

An unconscious character recovers Stamina at a normal rate and wakes up when it is greater than zero. However, there is no limit to how far negative Stamina can fall -- a character who has taken massive amounts of damage may go into a coma and take a very long time to recover.

A character loses Health through injury or disease. When the Health of a character is reduced to zero, the character dies and is gone forever.

Health is recovered slowly, by days of rest. A character will recover an amount of Health equal to his Constitution for every day of complete rest. Rest must be in a comfortable environment with adequate warmth, sleep, food, and water. Less than comfortable circumstances will slow the rate of healing. Light exertion, such as travelling, will slow the rate of healing significantly (probably by one half). Strenuous activity, such as fighting or spellcasting, will prevent any meaningful healing at all.

Exertion is measured from day to day, so a character who fights on a Monday will recover nothing on that day but could still recover at his full rate on Tuesday if he spends the day in bed.

Health can be recovered twice as quickly if in the care of skilled healers.

When a character is knocked out, the Bastard may rule that the character is bleeding. This is most appropriate when the character is unconscious due to damage from bladed weapons or puncture wounds.

Bleeding is treated as a slow loss of Health. The Bastard decides how much Health the character will lose per round, and how long the bleeding will last - perhaps indefinitely. Ideally, it should take several minutes for a character to bleed to death, so that friends who are otherwise occupied get the chance to save their companion.

Bleeding can be stopping by a successful Healing skill roll or by the proper application of Talamu sorcery.

A poison is any harmful substance that does damage to a character internally.

How a character becomes poisoned varies. Some poisons must be eaten, injected, or inhaled. Others take effect simply by direct contact with the skin.

In game terms, a poison drains a certain amount of stats per unit of time (rounds, minutes, hours, or even days) for a limited duration. If a character survives until the duration runs out, he fought the poison off.

Some poisons work more slowly than others. Most diseases can be treated as poisons, for game purposes.

If a character is deprived of air, he will lose six points of stamina per round. When he runs out of stamina, he will fall unconscious and will begin to lose six points of health per round until he is dead.

Characters who cannot sense their opponents will find themselves at a distinct disadvantage.

When characters are unable to see, any skill that requires sight will have its skill level halved. This applies whether a character is somehow blinded or just surrounded by darkness.

For situations that are dim, but not completely dark, the Bastard should assign a difficulty number - the lower the light, the higher the number. Any character who can make a Perception roll higher than this number is able to see for that round.

These rules apply also to other senses - any skill that requires hearing will be halved if the character cannot hear.

Of course, these rules do not apply to Perception itself - if a character is blinded or deafened, he cannot perceive anything with that sense.