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| Damage and Defenses | |
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| Term Name: | Damage
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| Description: | When you are hit by an attack or effects like traps, you take damage. Damage can be reduced with armor and body points. If it is not fully reduced a character will take wound conditions.
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| Rule Type: | Gameplay |
When characters take damage there are 4 defenses that can be used to reduce that damage, hopefully allowing the character to avoid becoming wounded.
Body Points
Characters primarily gain body points from Body Skills. Other ways to get temporary body points include the Toughness spell, the Elixir of Toughness alchemical and the Alchemical Ascension ritual.
Regardless of the source, characters cannot have more than 4 points of body unless one or more of those sources explicitly says that they 'break cap'. Those sources can potentially take a character to 5 body or higher.
Characters who have lost body points will automatically have them replenished at the start of the next event through natural healing. It's rare that this is fast enough, and so there is also magical healing available.
Spells like Heal Body, items like Rejuvenation Elixir, and other effects that heal body points restore all lost body points, including any temporarily gained from spells or items.
When a character gains temporary body points, this immediately increases both their current number of body points and their maximum number of body points. This can cause a character to gain current body points, without the maximum number changing (due to the cap).
For example: A character has 4 body points. They get hit in combat for '4 Elven Steel!', now they have 0 body points currently remaining. If you were to then cast the Toughness spell on that character they will then have 2 current body points, but their maximum number remains at 4 (because of the cap on body points). |
If a character gains extra body points from an effect, then takes damage which they don't heal, when the effect wears off they stay at their current number of body points.
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For example: A character has 2 body points. They gain 2 extra body points from the spell Toughness. They now have 4 total body points. In combat they are hit for '3 Silver!' putting them to 1 body point remaining. If the character isn't healed in the next 10 minutes (when the toughness spell wears off) they will still have 1 body point remaining. |
Physical Armor
Physical armor points, often referred to as simply 'armor points' or even just 'armor' generally come from wearing real armor. This defense only applies to hits that make contact with the armor (or the clothing over the armor).
Physical armor doesn't stack unless an effect specifically states that it does so.
Regardless of the source, characters cannot have more than 4 points of physical armor unless one or more of those sources explicitly say they 'break cap'. Those effects can take a character to 5 physical armor or higher.
It takes time for a competent blacksmith to repair armor. We assume any costs for doing so are earned by a character during downtime. As such all physical armor is repaired for free between events.
This probably isn't soon enough for most characters. That is why the Mend Armor spell is incredibly useful by repairing lost armor points right away. This includes repairing any temporary bonuses to the armor such as from the Enhance Armor spell. Physical armor works just like body when it comes to temporary points. Mend armor will repair all physical armor points at once even if you are wearing multiple items or types at the same time (such as a chain mail shirt with plate bracers). The spell will not repair other natural armor at the same time, that will take additional casts.
Magic Armor
Magic armor almost exclusively comes from spells, such as the Magic Armor Spell. It represents a skintight forcefield protecting the character from harm and protects against any damage the character takes regardless of where a hit may land.
Magic armor doesn't stack unless an effect specifically says that it does.
Regardless of the source, characters cannot have more than 4 points of magic armor unless one (or more) of those effects explicitly say they 'break cap'.
Magic armor cannot be repaired, it must be reapplied. If you start with 4 magic armor such as from the Improved Magic Armor spell and lose 2 points of it, you can keep what you have left, or drop it and cast Improved Magic Armor again to set yourself back to 4 points.
Natural Armor
Natural armor represents a creature with a shell, a thick hide, or extra tough skin. It is frequently location based like physical armor for creatures, but when player characters get access to it, natural armor functions everywhere.
Natural armor does not stack unless a source explicitly says that it does.
There is no maximum amount of natural armor a character can have.
Natural armor, much like body points will heal on it's own given time. Between events any non-temporary natural armor a character has will automatically restore itself to full value.
Generally this is not soon enough for most characters. The Mend Armor spell can be used to restore one piece of natural armor to full value. Not all natural armor can be repaired in this way, each source of natural armor will specify if it can be repaired. A separate cast is required for any physical armor a character needs repaired.
Monstrous Characters
A character who is monstrous is immune to all 'Pin!' calls regardless of effect type and all pit traps. They also cannot be restrained by non-magical means.
Monstrous characters can break the normal cap on might while dual wielding or wielding a weapon and shield. If they have enough might they can hit for up to 4 damage.
A character who is monstrous gains the benefits of both monstrous armor and monstrous body. Some rules give only one of these qualities. Monstrous armor can apply to all armor types on a character or to just one type (or even one piece) of armor, the rule giving the monstrous effect will specify what it applies to. Monstrous body only applies to a character's body points. Monstrous creatures benefit from all types of armor and body being monstrous.
When a character takes damage to a trait with the monstrous rule if the attack does not include 'Slay!' as part of the call, reduce the damage to exactly 1 before applying it.
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Example: A character is wearing plate armor. It provides 4 monstrous physical armor. The character is hit in the chest for '8 Nature!'. They have no magic armor, so the next thing to apply the damage to is the monstrous plate. Because the plate has the monstrous rule, it reduces the 8 damage to 1 before the damage is applied. The character has 3 monstrous armor points remaining. The character could get hit in the armor 3 more times like this before their natural armor, followed by body points would be used for defense. |
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Another example: A character has 4 monstrous body points and no armor of any kind. They are hit for an attack for '4 Slay!'. Because it has the slay call the monstrous rule doesn't apply. They reduce the damage to zero using all 4 points of monstrous body. The next attack the character takes will inflict a wound because they have no armor or body left to defend with. The fact that their body was monstrous is no longer relevant because they have no points of it left to use. |
References
Taking Damage
If an attack is not prevented and it deals damage, now we have to figure out what happens. Characters have four types of defenses that can prevent damage.
In the order they are applied, these defenses are:
Magic Armor -> Physical Armor -> Natural Armor -> Body Points.
Each of these defenses will have a value 0 or higher. You assign your damage taken first to magic armor, reducing its value by the amount of damage taken. If the magic armor doesn't absorb it all, then any remaining damage is applied first to any relevant physical armor, then to relevant natural armor and finally to body points. If after all of this any damage remains, regardless of if it is 1 damage or 100 damage, you will take a Wound condition to the location that was hit. Only one wound can be caused by an attack. Additional wounds require additional hits.
The word 'relevant' is used with natural and physical armor, because both defenses often apply only to locations of the body where the armor is present.
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Example: A character is hit in the torso with an attack that calls for '4 silver!'. They have no relevant prevention effects so they are taking damage. They have 0 magic armor, 4 physical armor, 0 natural armor and 4 body points. They have no magic armor to reduce the damage with so next we move to physical armor. The character has a magical chain shirt, it provides physical armor for being made of chain. The damage is applied there, reducing their physical armor to 0. All of the damage has been applied, the attack does nothing further. Should that character then get hit this time in the leg for '4 Silver!', it will apply to their body points next (because they have no magic, physical or natural armor left), reducing their body to 0. If once more the character is hit in the left arm after that. They no longer can reduce the damage. This means that arm takes a (Left) Arm Wound condition. |
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Another Example: A character is has 2 magic armor, 3 physical armor, 0 natural armor and 2 body points. They are hit for '4 Primal!' damage in the torso where the physical armor is located. First the magic armor reduces 2 of the damage, lowering the character's magic armor to 0 and leaving 2 damage remaining. That remaining 2 damage is then reduced by using 2 points of the physical armor. The character now has 0 magic armor, 1 physical armor, 0 natural armor, and 2 body points remaining. Should they be hit in the torso again for '4 Acid!', 1 point of damage will be reduced by the physical armor, leaving 3 left. Then 2 points of damage will be reduced by their body points, leaving 1 damage left. This last point is has not been prevented. The character takes a Torso Wound condition. |
The Toughness Spell Effect
- Grants the target 2 additional body points. This does not break cap.
- If the target already has 4 body points before the effect, then they are immune to killing blows for the duration instead.
The Mend Armor Spell Effect
This repairs all damage to either physical or natural armor. Repairing both takes a second application. Alternately this will remove the Broken condition from a shield.
The Heal Body Spell Effect
Restore any lost Body Points to the target.
Wound Calls and Damage
The 'Wound!' call never inflicts damage. It may not be blocked and is not a spell. The call will always include a hit location as part of it, such as 'Torso Wound!'. Characters hit by a 'Wound!' call immediately take a Wound condition in the named location. No body or armor is lost when this happens.
Only defenses which specifically stop a 'Wound!' call will stop this call by itself. If another call is added such as 'Poison Torso Wound!' a defense that prevents 'Poison!' will stop the entire attack. Trap tags will list a trap type at the top such as Alchemical, Spell, or Physical. Defenses that prevent alchemical traps can stop a Wound from an Alchemical trap tag, etc. Body and armor do not interact with the 'Wound!' call in any way. |
Setting Body
If an effect sets a trait to a certain number it overrides all other modifiers to that trait for as long as it lasts. When two different effects set a character to two different numbers, the effect that was applied second is the only one that matters.
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For example: A character has 2 body. They cast the spell Toughness (which grants 2 additional body points) on themselves bringing their total body up by two to a total of 4. Someone else casts the spell Heroism on them, which sets their body to 10. The character now has 10 body, not 12. If that character gains the Diseased condition (which among other things causes a character to have -1 body), they still have 10 body, because Heroism sets your body to 10. If the character then gets hit with a 'Curse!' call, they gain the Cursed condition (which sets their body to a maximum of 1), they now have 1 body point. |
Categories: Gameplay Rules | Combat Rules | Body Points | Physical Armor | Magic Armor | Natural Armor | Monstrous Armor | Monstrous Body | Monstrous
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