Hit Points

Hit Points (HP) are a measure of the sturdiness and survivability of your character and other creatures in the game. The higher the hit points the more damage and injury someone can suffer before they are permanently injured or die. Unlike many games system we try to keep the number of hit points for players and creatures relatively low to prevent combat from dragging on for round after round and ensuring that one combat encounter sucks up an entire gaming session. Players and creatures are assigned a role and their HP total falls within a certain range based on that role. In most cases, a creature or non-player character that may be used in a combat encounter will have their HP already designated in their description. Players roll for their HP and add bonuses during character creation to come up with their HP as outlined below. Unlike other games with levels for characters, the HP of a character in this game is unlikely to change no matter how experienced and powerful they are other than by magic or some other special occurrence in the campaign.


  • Possible Hit Points by Role:
    • Minion: Dead in one hit
    • Sidekick: No more than 5 hit points
    • Player: No more than 20 hit points. Calculated by 4d6 (drop the lowest roll) +Feats of Strength bonus. If this total exceeds 20, the player is given 20 HP. HP never increase expect by story involved means (magic, boon from a god, special technology, etc.)
    • Creatures: Variable hit points based on the toughness of the creature, but never more than
      • Common: 10HP
      • Strong: 20HP
      • Outsider/Pantheon: 30HP
      • Mythic: 50HP


Damage Effects

During an adventure players and creatures will take damage from combat and other environmental factors. This damage is subtracted from their current hit points and as more damage is accumulated it can begin to affect performance.


  • Full Hit Points: no effect
  • Half Total Hit Points (Round Down): -2 penalty on all rolls
  • One Hit Point: Lasting Wound
  • Zero Hit Points: Dead
  • Examples of Lasting Wounds:
    • Loss of a Limb: -2 to hit
    • Ruptured Organ: Loss of 2HP until healed
    • Loss of an Eye: -1 to hit and perception
    • Loss of Sight: -4 to hit and perception
    • Loss of Hearing: -2 to perception
    • Infected Wound: Lose 1HP per day until healed

In some cases, a character may choose to live with a lasting wound and over time the GM could rule that they no longer have the stated penalty because they have adapted to the wound (e.g., Bob loses an eye in battle and thinks it is a badge of honor. After some training and adjusting, Bob no longer takes the -1 to hit and perception from the wound)


  • Sample 12HP
    • 12 - 7: no effect
    • 6 - 2: penalty to hit
    • 1: Lasting Wound
    • 0: Dead
  • Sample 10HP
    • 10 - 6: no effect
    • 5 - 2: penalty to hit
    • 1: Lasting Wound
    • 0: Dead
  • Sample 13HP
    • 13 - 7: no effect
    • 6 - 2: penalty to hit
    • 1: Lasting Wound
    • 0: Dead

Healing

A character can heal in several ways. The slowest is natural over time, next fastest is by first aid or other medical help from someone with the Healing skill, and the fastest is with magical or advanced technological means.

Natural Healing

Each character regains one hit point after a full night of rest. If they are unable to get a full night of rest, they fail to regain any hit points the next day.

 Healing Skill

If the Healing skill is used on a character, that character can regain two hit points after a full night of rest. If they are unable to get full night of rest, they regain only one hit point the next day.

The Healing skill check can also stop additional damage from a ruptured organ, infected wound, or other lasting wound that indicates healing will stop the ongoing damage.

If the Healing skill is used on the character in a stocked medical setting (e.g., a hospital, MASH unit, portable surgery machine) then a successful check will heal a lasting wound and stop the character from suffering from its effects (e.g., Bob loses his eyesight in combat, but he later returns to camp and the surgeon is able to use his resources on a Healing check to restore Bob's eyesight). The GM determines the DC of any Healing skill checks to heal a lasting wound as well as determining what constitutes the proper facilities and resources to fix the lasting wound in question.

Magical Healing (this section talks about magic, but could also reflect highly advanced technological means in a setting)

Healing a character using a spell, potion, or other magical effect restores the number of hit points indicated in the spell/potion/effect listing.

Using magical healing also stops any additional damage from lasting wounds that continue to cause damage over time.

Magical healing can also be used to restore limbs and fix other lasting wounds if indicated in the spell/potion/effect or by determination of the GM.