Chimera Excerpt - Health & Wounds




We've got a mix of excerpts from different sections of the book that work along the rules for Health and Wounds and a section to adapt these rules in a more condensed matter to Dungeon World.



Determine Health

Health measures the overall well being of a character and their ability to endure punishment while still remaining functional. The more Health a character has, the longer they can stay on their feet during a fight. Your character’s Health equals 9 + ranks in Might + ranks in Endurance + misc modifiers (such as a racial trait or a talent).

Damage

In combat,  when an attack succeeds it usually deals damage, reducing the target’s Health. Damage is determined by the weapon and how well the attacker landed the attack (see Melee skill on page XX and the Ranged skill on page XX). When a character attacks another, unless the attacker is using a weapon that can harm the target, no damage is dealt. A character trying to beat a tank into submission with their fists would never deal damage to it unless they have a special ability that allows them to do so.

Health

Health measures the overall well being of a character and their ability to endure punishment while still remaining functional. The more Health a character has, the longer they can stay on their feet during a fight. When a character takes damage, subtract that amount from their Health. When a character drops to 0 Health, they might be dying or already dead. Some talents or gear might restore Health, if a character regains Health in this matter, add the amount healed to its current Health without exceeding its maximum Health.

Wounds

Wounds are injuries that may causing swelling, cramps, scars, small fractures, a damaged chassis (robots), internal systems overworking to compensate for other areas being damaged (robots), and such. Wounds can become deadly if untreated  and could lead to a character’s death. When a character’s Health is one-half of its maximum Health or lower, that character has a light wound. A light wounded character’s Health cannot go above one-half of its maximum Health until the wound is treated (see the  Rest & Recovery section). When a character’s Health is one-quarter of its maximum Health or lower, that character has a moderate wound.  A moderately wounded character’s Health cannot go above one-quarter of their maximum Health until the wound is treated. Once per session, when your character would be reduced to 0 Health, you can choose to take a severe wound instead of taking the dying action. NPCs such as monsters and other enemies usually cannot choose to take a severe wound.

The severity if a wound depends on the amount of damage a character takes and the nature of such damage. For example, a character that gets a light wound due to falling damage might get the shaky or slow condition because of the impact when they landed, while another character that gets a light wound due to being electrocuted by a spell might get the shaky, dazed, or weak condition. The GM has the final say on what condition a character gets based on their wound. The wounded condition has some suggestions as to what these might be.

Death & Dying

When a character is reduced to 0 Health, the attacker decides if it is dealing nonlethal damage to knock the character unconscious, otherwise it is dying. A dying character falls unconscious and gains the dying condition. Creatures other than characters usually die if they are reduced to 0 Health with lethal damage.

Severe Wounds

When a character is dying (see the dying condition on page XX), they can choose to take a severe wound instead of rolling for their lives.  They can do this once per session and only if they don't already have a severe wound. A character that chooses to take a severe wound first falls unconscious and is incapacitated until the end of the next round, then it regains consciousness and is at 1 Health.

Rest & Recovery

Time heals all wounds. The longer a character takes to treat its wounds and rest, the better are its chances of recovering. Resting is divided into 3 types:

Short Rest

A character can take about 15 minutes to catch their breath and lick their wounds. If a character is not wounded, they regain one-half (rounded down) of their Health. If they have a light wound, then they must first take a short rest to make a Medicine roll to treat the wound and then they can rest to regain Health. Some abilities are regained after taking a short rest.

Extended Rest

A character who spends at least 6 hours resting in relative comfort–be it sleeping or engaging in very light activity such as reading–is taking an extended rest. If a character is not wounded, they regain all of their Health. If they have a moderate wound, then they must first take an extended rest to make a Medicine roll to treat the wound and then they can rest to regain Health.

Recovery

When a character does nothing but rest in comfort for a long period of time, they are recovering. A character that spends at least 24 hours recovering heals one level of Fatigue. If a character is not wounded and spends at least three days recovering, they regain all of their Health and they have Advantage to stave off a disease. If they have a severe wound, then they must first recover to make a Medicine roll to treat the wound and then they can rest to regain Health.

Conditions


Combat wounds and the environment can do more than just reduce your Health. The searing light of a priest’s magic could leave you temporarily blind, a spider’s venom could leave you paralyzed, the disease currently affecting you could leave you weak and sick even after you have beaten it, the mighty slash of a dragon’s claw has left you scarred; sure, warriors who see you might have respect for you but the common folk are now scared or repulsed by your looks. Conditions could be permanent, for just a round, until the character succeeds on a specific roll determined by the GM, or until the source of the condition is removed or cured. Below you will find a list of common conditions that can be imposed on a characters and creatures alike.

Blinded

You can’t see. While blinded, you have Disadvantage on rolls that require sight and creatures have Advantage against you. As a blinded creature, you might have difficulty pinpointing a target and most use other means such as tact and hearing to determine the location of your target before attempting to attack it.

Dazed

You are disoriented, shocked, and unable to react or think properly. As a dazed creature, you have Disadvantage while reacting to danger and on Cunning based rolls.

Deafened

You are unable to hear anything. You have Disadvantage on rolls that require hearing and automatically fail on rolls that rely solely on your ability to perceive sound.

Dominated

Your actions are controlled by whoever dominated you. Dominating effects are rarely permanent.

Dying

When you are at 0 Health, you are incapacitated, and fighting for your life. Each round you make an Endurance roll with a Difficulty of 6. On a success, you are stabilized. On a partial success,  your condition remains the same and you must keep making Endurance rolls until you succeed. On a failure, you are dead.  If you are stabilized while dying, you remain at 0 Health and unconscious until you regain at least 1 Health. If you take damage while dying and it's not enough to kill you outright, you make another Endurance roll with Disadvantage. A success in this way does not stabilize you.

Exsanguinating

You have received a wound that leaves you bleeding out to death. You must make an Endurance roll on your next turn with a Difficulty of 4 each round. On a success, you remain conscious. On a partial success, you remain conscious but gain one level of Fatigue. On a failure, your Health is reduced to 0, you fall unconscious and gain the dying condition

Fatigued

Fatigue measures your level of exhaustion. If you are suffering from dehydration, thirst, hunger, or prolonged exposure to hazardous conditions such as moving through a desert or a snowstorm, you gain one level of fatigue. You can gain multiple levels of fatigue from the same source or from multiple ones. You can normally reach 3 levels of fatigue before falling unconscious, if you have an ability that allows you to circumvent the effects of fatigue and gain a fourth level, you are dead.
  • Weary: The number needed to land a success on a increases by 1. This mean that if you normally needed a 4 or higher to land a success, you now need a 5.
  • Exhausted: The number needed to land a success on a increases by 2. This mean that if you normally needed a 4 or higher to land a success, you now need a 6. The character is also Slowed.
  • Incapacitated: The character falls unconscious and is Incapacitated.
  • Dead: The character is dead.

Frightened

You have Disadvantage on all rolls while in the presence of the source of your fear. Depending on how powerful the source of the fear is, you could involuntarily flee until it is out of your sight or you might not be able to willingly get close to it.

Immobalized

You are unable to move from where you are, usually because your legs are tied, glued, or tangled with something. As an immobilized character, you have Disadvantage on Agility based rolls that require movement such as the Dodge skill.

Incapacitated

You can't move nor take any actions while in this state. If you are incapacitated, you are usually unconscious. Creatures acting against you have Advantage.

Invisible

You are hard to spot. Characters trying to search for you while invisible have Disadvantage. As an invisible character, if you try to avoid being detected you have Advantage.

Irradiated

You become irradiated when you are exposed to radiation and take radiation damage. Your current and maximum Health is reduced by 1 for each point of radiation damage you take (see Radioactive Environments on page XX).

Overwhelmed

You are overwhelmed when a creature is directly on top of you. As an overwhelmed character you are restrained with partial freedom.

Restrained

You are unable to move your body. You may be tied from head to toe, temporarily frozen, overwhelmed by a creature, or petrified in place by a power. As a restrained character, you are unable to move or take any physical actions until you free yourself. On the rare occasion that you somehow partially free yourself and try to do something physical (provided that you can do it in your current state), you have Disadvantage.

Scarred

You may receive the scarred condition when a visibly nasty wound heals poorly, when an attack by a supernatural creature left you severely injured, or if you survived a horrendous accident but not unscathed. As a scarred character, you usually have Disadvantage when interacting with judgemental or easily scared individuals.

Shaky

You have trouble keeping a steady pulse, hand-eye coordination is difficult, and your steps are unstable. As a shaky character, you have Disadvantage on Agility based rolls. Usually, you gain the shaky condition when your hands take a sudden blow or when a damaging surge of electricity runs through your body.

Sick

You are not feeling very well and performing any task takes a toll on you. As a sick character, you have Disadvantage on all Endurance related rolls. You could gain the sick condition through numerous sources such as the debilitating effects of a poison, illness, diseases, and intoxication.

Slowed

You have difficulty moving such as when you are traversing difficult terrain or while under an effect that specifically says it imposes the slow condition. As a slowed character, you move half as fast as you usually would.

Stunned

If you have received a sudden trauma to your head such as by the blow of a blunt weapon or when the attacker targets a vulnerable area of your face to temporarily incapacitate you, you normally get the stunned condition. As stunned character, you are incapacitated.

Weak

You can't apply much effort on physical activities such as climbing, swimming, and attacking in melee. As a weak character, you have Disadvantage on all Might related rolls.

Wounded

Wounds are injuries serious enough to leave a lingering side effect besides reducing your Health. Wounds remain until they are treated (see the Wounds section on Page XX). Depending on the severity and the nature of the wound, you might get one of the following conditions or any other the GM sees fit:
  • Light wounds: dazed, immobilized, shaky, slowed, or weak.
  • Moderate Wounds: blinded, deafened, restrained, scarred, stunned.
  • Severe Wounds: Exsanguinating or loss of a limb.





Converting to DW

In Dungeon World a creature can go down with one or two well landed hits. If you wish to keep the same level of lethality and implement wounds, keep HP as is and use the same rules for wounds except for the changes below:


When a character’s HP is one-half of its maximum HP or lower, that character has a light wound. A light wounded character’s HP cannot go above one-half of its maximum HP until the wound is treated (see the Rest & Recovery section). When a character’s HPis one-quarter of its maximum Health or lower, that character has a moderate wound.

You can change wounds for debilities or if you want to use conditions as wounds treat Disadvantages as a -1 and Advantages as a +1. Since monsters dont really make any rolls, if a monster gets Advantage just add an additional -1 to the character making the roll at the moment. Cunning rolls may refer to Charisma when it comes to social interactions, Intelligence when it comes to knowledge, or Wisdom when it comes to perception. Endurance rolls can be translated as Constitution rolls.

Make the following change to Last breath: 

Last Breath
When you are dying, roll (just roll, +nothing—yeah, Death doesn’t care how tough or cool you are). ✴ On a 10+, you are not quite dead yet, you regain consciousness at 2 HP. ✴ On a 7-9, you are dangerously close to dying, you regain consciousness with a severe wound and at 1 HP ✴ On a miss, you either die or have a permanent, meaningful loss, like missing a limb or the reduction of an ability score by 1.

HP
Using these rules might make the game more lethal than normal, I would suggest increasing the base HP of every character by +5 or +10 to give them a chance to withstand a bit more of damage before they start getting conditions/debilities.


New Gear

Medical Kit 5 uses, 50 coins, 1 weight.

This kit has almost everything needed to save a life. This includes antivenoms and antitoxins, bandages, antibiotics, painkillers, burn ointments, respirators, toxin detectors and so forth. Where technology is advanced, this kit also includes diagnostic scanners and antidote synthesizers. In settings with less technology it may come in the form of poultices and herbs.


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