CRITICAL INJURIES [FORBIDDEN LANDS]

CRITICAL INJURIES

Being Broken is always bad, but having your Strength or Wits Broken is especially dangerous – it can trigger long term effects and even cost you your life. The critical damage tables are found at the back of this book. Roll D66 on the table relevant to the latest form of damage you have suffered: slash wounds, stab wounds, or blunt force (for Strength), or mental trauma (for Wits).

DEATH

If your critical injury is listed as LETHAL, someone must make a successful HEALING roll to save you – otherwise, you die when the time indicated has passed. If you recover attribute points (above) before you die, you can attempt to HEAL yourself – but the roll gets a –2 penalty. Each person trying to HEAL you can only roll once.

Instant death : Note that there are a small number of critical injuries that kill you outright. If you roll either of these, you draw your last breath in the Forbidden Lands. Time to create a new character.

HEALING

Each critical injury has a specific effect that you suffer during the healing time indicated – measured in days.

Care : If someone manages to HEAL you during the process of healing a critical injury, the remaining healing time is reduced by half. Any earlier roll to save your life does not count towards this – a new roll is required to reduce the healing time.

Attribute points : Note that you can recover all your lost attribute points, but still suffer the effects of a critical injury.

NON-TYPICAL DAMAGE

For some types of damage (for example from fire), the normal critical injury tables don't apply. If you're Broken by such a non-typical type of damage, use the table Critical Injuries – Others on page 199.

Conditions : Some conditions, such as HUNGRY and THIRSTY, can Break you (below). The effects of this are specified by each condition. Don't roll for a critical injury in this case.

PUSHED DAMAGE

There is one case where you don't risk any critical injury when Broken: when you push a roll so hard that you break yourself. This is very rare, but it can happen. This means you can never kill yourself by pushing a roll.

EXAMPLE

« Poor Tyrgar was hurt before the savage strike by the minotaur, and is now Broken. He rolls 52 on the critical injury table for slash wounds, and thus suffers a bleeding gut. He rolls a D6 and gets a 5, meaning he will die in five hours unless HEALED before he bleeds out. Nirmena is not around, so Tyrgar rolls another D6 to see how long it will take him to get back on his feet without help. He rolls a 2. After two hours on the cold ground he comes to. He tries to HEAL himself but fails. He now has three hours to find Nirmena or someone else who can HEAL him before he dies from his injuries. »

BROKEN NPCS

NPCs can be Broken in the same ways as PCs. An NPC can HEAL a PC and vice versa. However, dice are usually not rolled when an NPC HEALS another NPC – instead, the GM decides what happens. The GM can also decide that a minor NPC whose Strength is Broken simply dies.