Injury and RecoveryChapter the Ninth
Injury and recovery
Wounds come back with rest, critical wounds heal on their own clock, and Fatigue is cleared by sleep, and poison and disease run their own course. This chapter covers all five.
Healing
A full night's rest restores Wounds equal to Endurance + Resolve.
A broken or poor night's rest restores Wounds equal to Endurance only.
For a human-sized character a full night restores half their Wounds, so anyone is back to full after two good nights.
Critical wounds heal on their own clock, shown in the tables. Treat Wounds can shorten it.
Treat Wounds
Treat Wounds does less than healing magic, but it costs no Fatigue and it shortens recovery. It has three uses, each a single roll of 2d6 + Intellect + rank.
| Use | When | Difficulty | On a success |
|---|---|---|---|
| First aid | A full action in a fight, or a few minutes just after it | Easy (9) | Restores 2 + rank Wounds (1 if untrained). Binds a Bleeding gash. Once per person per fight. |
| Trending | Before a night's rest | Easy (9) | The patient's rest counts as a full night even if it was broken or poor. It does not overcome a Deep wound. |
| Treating a critical wound | Once per wound, about an hour's work | By duration, below | Recovery time is shortened. |
Critical wound lasts
| Critical wound lasts | Difficulty | On a success |
|---|---|---|
| The fight | No roll | Nothing to treat; it ends with the fight. |
| An hour | Easy (9) | It ends after ten minutes of treatment instead of an hour or two of rest. |
| A week | Medium (11) | It heals in half the time. |
| A season | Hard (13) | It heals in half the time. |
| Permanent | None | Treat Wounds cannot help. |
One try per wound. A healer who fails cannot try again on that wound; another healer can.
Tools. Week and season wounds need a surgeon's kit. Without one the roll is at -2.
Named treatments stay as written. The Pierced lung and Dislocated shoulder rolls in the wound tables are separate from these.
Talents. Field Dressing applies to first aid. Surgery applies to week and season wounds.
Untrained. Treat Wounds is an advanced skill, so an untrained attempt rolls at -2 and a failure always costs something.
Critical wounds
A critical wound is separate from a critical hit. There are no critical wounds while a character has Wounds left.
When it happens. Any hit that takes a character to 0 Wounds causes a critical wound. Wounds never go below 0.
The roll. Roll a d6 and add the damage left over after the hit took you to 0. Read the result on the table for the location struck.
Already at 0. Every further hit on a character at 0 Wounds causes another critical wound, and all of its damage is added to the d6.
Wounds pile up. Each critical wound a character has already taken in the current fight adds +1 to every later critical wound roll they make in that fight. A third critical wound in one fight is rolled at +2, a fourth at +3, and so on. The count starts again with each new fight.
Which side. For a leg, a location die of 1 is the left leg and 2 is the right. For an arm, roll a die: odd is the left arm, even the right.
Carrying on. A character at 0 Wounds can still act, unless a wound says otherwise.
How long it lasts. Each wound shows one of five durations: the fight, meaning it ends when the fight does; an hour, meaning an hour or two of rest; a week; a season, meaning about three months; or permanent, which is a maiming wound.
Treatment. A Treat Wounds roll can shorten a wound that lasts an hour, a week or a season. See Treat Wounds under Healing.
Magic. Greater Mending and Mother's Care end one wound that is not permanent. A Limb-rune replaces a lost hand or foot.
Critical Wound Tables
Head
| Roll | Wound | Effect | Lasts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ringing ears | -1 on Perception rolls. | The fight |
| 2 | Bloodied nose | -1 on attack rolls. | The fight |
| 3 | Dazed | You take only a half action on your next turn. | The fight |
| 4 | Cut brow | Blood in your eyes: -1 on attack and Perception rolls. | An hour |
| 5 | Rattled | -1 on all Intellect and Wits rolls, and on casting. | An hour |
| 6 | Knocked senseless | You fall and lose your next turn, then take -1 on all rolls. | An hour |
| 7 | Broken nose | -1 on Presence and Perception rolls. | A week |
| 8 | Concussion | -1 on all rolls. | A week |
| 9 | Cracked jaw | You can barely speak: -2 on Presence rolls and on casting. | A week |
| 10 | Fractured skull | You fall unconscious for d6 hours, then take -2 on all rolls. | A season |
| 11 | Lost eye | -1 on ranged attacks and Perception rolls, and -1 Appearance. | Permanent |
| 12 | Skull split | The blow opens your head from crown to jaw. You are dead before you fall. | Death |
| 13+ | Beheaded | Your head leaves your shoulders and lands some way off. | Death |
Body
| Roll | Wound | Effect | Lasts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Winded | You take only a half action on your next turn. | The fight |
| 2 | Bruised ribs | -1 on Athletics and Acrobatics rolls. | The fight |
| 3 | Knocked down | You fall prone. | The fight |
| 4 | Cracked rib | -1 on attack rolls. | An hour |
| 5 | Gut blow | Your Movement is halved. | An hour |
| 6 | Bleeding gash | -1 on all rolls until it is bound and rested. | An hour |
| 7 | Broken ribs | -1 on all Melee Skill, Ranged Skill, Might and Agility rolls. | A week |
| 8 | Deep wound | -1 on Athletics rolls, and a full night's rest heals you only as a poor one would. | A week |
| 9 | Torn muscle | You cannot Run or Charge, and deal 1 less damage in melee. | A week |
| 10 | Pierced lung | You fall unconscious and die in minutes equal to your Endurance unless someone passes a Hard Treat Wounds roll. After that, -2 on all physical rolls and no running. | A season |
| 11 | Broken back | -2 Movement and -1 Agility. | Permanent |
| 12 | Run through | The weapon goes in at the belly and out at the spine. You fold around it and die. | Death |
| 13+ | Torn open | You are laid open from collar to hip, and what was inside is now outside. | Death |
Critical wounds
Arm
| Roll | Wound | Effect | Lasts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jarred | -1 on your next attack with that arm. | The fight |
| 2 | Numb fingers | You drop whatever that hand holds. | The fight |
| 3 | Bruised forearm | -1 on attacks with that arm. | The fight |
| 4 | Twisted wrist | You drop whatever that hand holds, and take -1 on rolls with that arm. | An hour |
| 5 | Dead arm | The arm hangs useless. | An hour |
| 6 | Dislocated shoulder | The arm is useless until someone sets it with a Medium Treat Wounds roll, then -1 on rolls with it. | An hour |
| 7 | Broken fingers | -2 on Deftness rolls and -1 on attacks with that hand. | A week |
| 8 | Torn elbow | -1 on rolls with that arm, and no two-handed weapons. | A week |
| 9 | Cut to the bone | The arm is useless. | A week |
| 10 | Broken arm | The arm is useless. | A season |
| 11 | Lost hand | The hand is gone at the wrist. | Permanent |
| 12 | Arm severed | The arm comes off at the shoulder. You bleed out in moments. | Death |
| 13+ | Cloven | The blow takes the arm and carries on into the chest. | Death |
Leg
| Roll | Wound | Effect | Lasts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stumble | Your Movement is halved on your next turn. | The fight |
| 2 | Off balance | You fall prone. | The fight |
| 3 | Bruised shin | -1 Movement. | The fight |
| 4 | Twisted ankle | Your Movement is halved. | An hour |
| 5 | Dead leg | You cannot Run or Charge, and take -1 on Acrobatics rolls. | An hour |
| 6 | Gashed thigh | You fall prone, and your Movement is halved. | An hour |
| 7 | Sprained knee | -2 Movement, and -1 on Athletics and Acrobatics rolls. | A week |
| 8 | Torn hamstring | Your Movement is halved, and you cannot Run or Charge. | A week |
| 9 | Broken foot | Your Movement is 1. | A week |
| 10 | Broken leg | You cannot walk unaided. Your Movement is 1 with a crutch. | A season |
| 11 | Lost foot | The foot is gone at the ankle. Your Movement is halved and you take -1 Agility. | Permanent |
| 12 | Leg severed | The leg comes off above the knee. The great vessel empties in a few heartbeats. | Death |
| 13+ | Cut from under you | Both legs go at once, and you are dead before you understand why you fell. | Death |
Fatigue
Fatigue is a secondary stat that starts at 0. It is one number covering both physical and mental exhaustion.
Fights
Every fight a character takes part in adds 1 Fatigue, marked when the fight ends, whether they fought, cast spells or both. The excitement and rush of a fight wear anyone down. Nothing is tracked during the fight.
Spells in a fight add no Fatigue of their own. The fight's 1 Fatigue covers them.
Spells outside a fight. The first spell a character casts in a scene adds no Fatigue. The second adds 1 Fatigue, and every spell after that adds 1 more. A scene is about ten minutes, or one conversation, search or task.
Rituals are counted separately and cost ritual Fatigue; see How ritual spells work, in chapter 10. A ritual does not count as a spell in the scene for ordinary Fatigue.
Effects. Fatigue is subtracted from casting rolls and from all attack rolls, melee and ranged. Each point is -1.
Rest
A night's rest removes all ordinary Fatigue, and 2 points of ritual Fatigue. A short rest of 1 hour removes 2 Fatigue, and only one short rest counts between one night's rest and the next.
No cap. Fatigue has no cap. When Fatigue, ritual Fatigue included, reaches double the character's Resolve, and each time it rises after that, the character must pass a Resist (Hardship) roll at Medium or fall asleep where they stand. Harm or a hard shake wakes them.
Other exhaustion. Outside a fight, a hard push such as a forced march or a night without sleep can add 1 Fatigue. What counts is the GM's call.
Opponents. Fatigue is not tracked for creatures and other opponents. At the start of an encounter the GM decides whether they are fresh or already tired, and gives tired ones a Fatigue of 1 to 3 for that fight.
Poison
Poison is resisted with Resist (Poison), an Endurance group: 2d6 + Endurance + rank, against the poison's difficulty. Every poison has five things: how it gets in, its difficulty, how soon it acts, what it does on a failure and what it does on a success.
How it gets in
Wound poisons are on a blade, arrow or bolt, or in a bite. Drink and eaten poisons are swallowed. Breathed poisons are bad air.
Wound poisons take effect only if the hit does at least 1 damage after Endurance and armour. A poison coat lasts until the first hit that does damage, or the end of the scene. Coating a weapon is a full action. Shot cannot be poisoned.
The roll
The roll is made when the poison acts, at the end of its onset time. Luck can be spent on it. Talents never make it automatic, since it is a Resist roll.
Poison is not a hit
Wounds lost to poison ignore Endurance and armour, and talents and runes that reduce damage from hits, such as Robust and Stone-rune, do not reduce it.
No critical wounds
Poison never causes a critical wound. A character taken to 0 Wounds by poison falls unconscious for d6 hours.
Deadly poisons
A character taken to 0 Wounds by a poison marked Deadly dies in minutes equal to their Endurance, unless someone ends the poison in time, as below.
Treating poison
Identifying it. A Knowledge (Alchemy) or Knowledge (Nature) roll at the poison's difficulty names it and tells the healer what it will do. That gives +1 on the Treat Wounds roll.
Treatment. About ten minutes' work and a Treat Wounds roll at the poison's difficulty. Made before the poison acts, a success gives the patient +2 on their Resist (Poison) roll. Made after, a success ends the poison: it does no further harm, but Wounds already lost stay lost until healed.
Tools. Without herbs, bottled remedies or a surgeon's kit the roll is at -2.
One try per healer for each poisoning, as with critical wounds.
Magic. Cleanse and Break the Fever end one poison. Hold the Breath and Watch Through the Night keep a dying character alive while it is treated.
Poisons of the frontier
| Poison | Gets in | Difficulty | Acts after | On a failure | On a success | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rattler venom | Wound (bite) | Medium (11) | At once | Lose 2d6 Wounds. The bitten limb swells: -1 on all rolls for a day. | Lose d3 Wounds. | Not sold |
| Wolfsbane paste | Wound | Medium (11) | At once | Lose d6 Wounds and gain 1 Fatigue. | No effect. | 3 a dose |
| Sleeping draught | Drink | Medium (11) | 10 minutes | Deep sleep for d6 hours. Harm wakes the sleeper; shaking does not. | Drowsy: gain 1 Fatigue. | 2 a dose |
| Cut rum | Drink | Easy (9) | An hour | Sick for a day: -1 on all rolls, and that night's rest counts as a poor one. | Merely drunk. | 1b a cup |
| Water hemlock root | Eaten | Hard (13) | 15 minutes | Deadly. Fits: lose 2d6 Wounds and your next d3 turns, then -2 on all rolls for a day. | Lose d6 Wounds, and -1 on all rolls for a day. | Not sold |
| Death-cap | Eaten | Hard (13) | 6 to 12 hours | Deadly. Roll once a day for three days. Each failure loses 2d6 Wounds, which rest does not restore until the poison is ended. | That day's roll does no harm. | Not sold |
| Bad air | Breathed | Medium (11) | At once | Roll each minute in it. A failure adds 1 Fatigue. A failure by 5 or more is unconsciousness, and death in minutes equal to Endurance unless someone drags the character into clean air. | No effect that minute. | None |
Cut rum is trade rum stretched with water, pepper and worse. It is sold at every back-country post.
Water hemlock and death-cap are the usual dangers of a failed foraging roll. On a Survival roll to forage that fails by 5 or more, the GM may have one of them in the pot.
Bad air gathers in mines, wells and cellars, and in a closed room after powder has been fired.
Poisons are not sold openly. Wolfsbane paste and sleeping draughts are bought from apothecaries, charlatans and boat-clans who ask no questions. Making a dose is ordinary crafting in downtime, with Knowledge (Alchemy) at the poison's difficulty.
Creature venoms use this table. A creature profile can say, for example, Venom: as rattler venom.
Disease
The ships brought sickness, and it still kills more people on the frontier than any war. Disease is resisted with Resist (Disease), an Endurance group, against the disease's difficulty. The same difficulty is used to catch the disease, to fight it off and to nurse it.
Catching it
Exposure. The GM calls for a Resist (Disease) roll each time a character is exposed: each day spent tending the sick or sharing a roof with them, each drink of bad water, each bite from infected vermin. Over a long exposure, such as a voyage or a season in a sick fort, roll once a week instead.
A success means the character does not catch it this time. A failure means they have caught it.
Secret rolls. The GM may make this roll in secret, since a character cannot know whether they have caught something. Luck cannot be spent on a roll the player does not see.
Shows after. Nothing happens until the incubation time has passed. Then the character is Sick.
The course of a disease
A Sick character suffers the disease's listed effect. Every interval shown in the disease's Roll every column, they roll Resist (Disease) at its difficulty.
| Result | Outcome |
|---|---|
| Success | Mark one success. With the number in the Recover after column, the character is over it. |
| Failure | No change. |
| Failure by 5 or more | The disease worsens. A Sick character becomes Gravely ill. A Gravely ill character dies within d6 hours if the disease is Deadly, unless magic ends it or holds them past it; otherwise they lose one marked success. |
Gravely ill. The disease's effect stays, but the penalty to all rolls becomes -2. The character cannot travel, fight or work, and rest restores no Wounds. A success while Gravely ill returns them to Sick instead of marking a success.
Rest matters. A character who travels, fights or works during an interval rolls at -2 for that interval and cannot be nursed.
Nursing and cures
Nursing. A carer who spends the interval with the patient rolls Treat Wounds at the disease's difficulty, once per patient per interval. A success gives +1 on the patient's next Resist (Disease) roll, and a margin of 3 or more gives +2.
Identifying it. Knowledge (Medicine) at the disease's difficulty names it and tells the carer its course and how it spreads. That gives +1 on nursing rolls.
Medicines. Nursing without herbs, bottled remedies or a surgeon's kit is at -2.
Magic. Cleanse and Break the Fever end one disease. A lasting effect that has already set in remains. House-blessing gives +1 on Resist (Disease) rolls for a week.
Downtime. A Sick character who spends a week of downtime Recovering, with care, gets over any disease that is not Deadly. For a Deadly one, roll once for the week at +2. A success means they recover, a failure keeps them Sick for another week, and a failure by 5 or more follows the table above.
Diseases of the frontier
| Disease | Caught from | Difficulty | Shows after | Roll every | Recover after | While sick | Deadly |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spring fever | Breath: sharing a room | Medium (11) | 2 days | Day | 2 | 2 Fatigue that rest does not remove until you recover | No |
| Camp flux | Bad water or food | Medium (11) | 1 to 3 days | Day | 2 | -1 on all rolls, and every night's rest counts as a poor one | Yes |
| Marsh ague | Insect bites in swamps and river bottoms | Medium (11) | 1 to 2 weeks | Week | 2 | -1 on all rolls, and 1 Fatigue each day as the fever comes and goes | No |
| Ship fever | Lice, in holds, jails and barracks | Medium (11) | 1 to 2 weeks | Day | 3 | -1 on all rolls, and Movement halved | Yes |
| Grey pox | Breath and touch | Medium (11) | 12 days | Day | 3 | -1 on all rolls, and no Wounds restored by rest | Yes |
| Winter rot | Four weeks or more without fresh food | Easy (9) | Starts at once | Week | 2 | -1 on all rolls, and every night's rest counts as a poor one | Yes |
| Lockjaw | A critical wound from a filthy source | Medium (11) | d6 + 3 days | Day | 3 | -1 on all rolls, and -2 on Presence rolls and casting | Yes |
| Festering wound | A critical wound lasting a week or more that was never treated | Easy (9) | 3 days | Day | 2 | -1 on all rolls, and the critical wound does not heal while it festers | Yes |
Spring fever is the downtime event of that name, played out in full.
Marsh ague comes back. After recovering, roll Resist (Disease) at Easy each season, or fall Sick again with no incubation.
Grey pox is the sickness that followed the first crown columns and emptied whole valleys. Elves and dwarves roll against it at -2. A survivor of a Gravely ill bout is scarred, at -1 Appearance. Anyone who has had it cannot catch it again.
Ship fever cannot be caught twice either.
Winter rot comes from a winter fort or a long voyage on salt rations. A week of fresh food ends it with no roll. The forest elves' spruce-tip tea counts as fresh food, which the newcomers learned the hard way.
Lockjaw. The GM may call for the roll after a critical wound from a rusted blade, a stable floor or a gutting knife.
Festering wound. It is caught only if no Treat Wounds roll on the wound succeeded. A wound dressed with a Stanch-rune kit cannot fester.