Page Body
The Hit System - taking and dealing damage
Hit Locations
Each character has 6 hit locations on which they can take damage: head, torso, left arm, right arm, left leg and right leg. Each of these locations has a number of hit points (also known as 'hits') that determines how much damage it can take before the location is rendered incapacitated, ie has 0 hitpoints remaining. If damage is taken to a location on 0 hitpoints, it will start bleeding (see below).
The locations are defined as follows:
- Head - anywhere from the base of the neck upwards.
- Arm - from wrist to shoulder.
- Leg - from toes to top of thigh, also including the bottom.
- Torso - any part of the body not already covered.
You may (and generally should) consider any weapon blow which strikes your hand (outward from your wrist-bones) to have hit any weapon wielded in that hand instead.
An unskilled character (one with zero xp) starts out on 4-2 (four hits to each of the torso and head, two hits to each of the limbs).A 'round' of hits (an extra two hits to the head and the torso, and extra one to each of the limbs) can be bought by purchasing any four levels of Health, Fitness and Fortitude in any combination (note that Fitness is specific to the Warrior and Wilderness skill trees, and Fortitude is specific to Warrior.) For instance, a human scout with Health I, Health II, Fitness I and Fitness II has six hits each to the torso and head, and three to each limb.
Incapacitation
If damage takes the location to 0, the following occurs:
- Head/torso: Fall over unconscious. After 5 minutes, or immediately on receiving any medical attention to that location, you may get back up and stagger slowly about, but are badly wounded, and are very limited in the actions you can take. By default, if you escape in this state, you will be able to make it back to civilisation. You explicitly may (assuming you would otherwise be able to) administer elixirs, read, write, speak, move slowly, call DETECT MAGIC or SPIRIT at touch range, make a cry of ultimate faith, and use stealth skills to hide. You explicitly may not apply potions, cast spells or miracles, overcast, perform rites or rituals, move while stealthed, attack or parry or run. If you wish to do anything which is not explicitly permitted please check with the refs.
- Arm: Drop or otherwise stop using whatever is in this arm. You may still carry things in it, but may not fight with them. (If something carried in it is hit, even without your actively parrying, you must drop it or put it quickly on the ground). You may not cast spells or miracles with this arm.
- Leg: Fall at least to your knee. This leg will not support you in combat unless you are kneeling or lower, but you may stagger along on it, or walk normally with support.
For safety reasons, you do not need to count any damage you take while you are the process of falling over unconscious, as you may well be concentrating on not falling over into the river/nettle patch/someone else.
If you take VENOM damage during a fight, you should consult a ref as soon as the fight is over (see below)
Bleeding
If you take another damaging hit to a location on 0, it is bleeding. It also may not be used at all, meaning unconsciousness/limb useless (remember that you don't take damage called on you while you are falling over). The location will bleed for 120 seconds, after which it will be permanently damaged, meaning death for the torso/head, and permanent maiming/loss for a limb. Bleeding should be tracked separately for each location.
The first HALF point of curing applied to a bleeding location stops the bleeding and has no other effect. (This will frequently result in half a point of curing being wasted, but does allow you to (usually) stop two locations bleeding with a CURE 1 and all 6 with a CURE 3). Further hits to an already bleeding location have no effect. In addition, bleeding can be stopped by use of bandaging as part of the First Aid skill. Note that halves round up after healing as long as you aren't actively in combat at the time.
Execution
PCs, or specific NPCs who have been explicitly briefed to do so by the refs may use a 10s execute on any location which is on 0 or bleeding (or higher by consent - this is meant to enable easier Dramatic Hostage Situations, not to help you kill a frozen target more quickly). Executions can only be carried out on an unresisting character (FREEZE counts; HALT doesn't). An execution should be obvious to anyone standing within a few paces, and will take the location to 'bled out' if completed (i.e. dead, if used on a head or torso, and "fallen off" if on a limb). If you complete an execute count, you may hold the killing blow as long as you like, provided you keep a weapon in a suitably threatening position, allowing for taking of hostages and suchlike. You may then complete the execution instantly at any point. Any damage call that is not NOTHING taken by the character performing the execution interrupts the whole process, which must then be started again from scratch.
Globally statted creatures should consider themselves to have just a torso location, should it ever be relevant.
Taking Damage
Treasure Trap has a Call System and all combat calls take the following form:
"[Wide / Mass / Target] [Harm (type)] [[Colour] / Magic / Spirit] [Subdue] [VENOM] [Damage Call] [Through] [Effect Calls]!" However, the vast majority of combat calls heard in play only have one or two words.
Combat calls are either delivered by weapon, at range or by touch. If struck by a weapon or touch attack then you lose a number of hit points on the location where you were struck that equals the damage call (1 for a Single, 2 for a Double, etc). Two Halves will add up to a Single, but if at the end of a fight you have any lone Halves on any locations, then they are disregarded (that is, you round up the number of hit points). Ranged damage calls do damage to the torso location.
If the combat call also contains a status effect such as Halt, Repel etc, then that status effect affects your whole body regardless of which location you took the blow on and whether or not you also took any damage from the blow.
Some characters may be Resistant or Vulnerable to certain kinds of damage (e.g. Dwarfs are resistant to all coloured or grey magical damage). If you are Resistant to a certain kind of damage, take one degree less damage each time you are hit with it; Doubles go to Singles, Singles are reduced to Halves, and you take no damage from Halves. If you are Vulnerable to a certain kind of damage you take one degree more: take a half point of damage from a [type] NOTHING call, HALFs become SINGLEs, SINGLEs become DOUBLEs etc.
Natural and Unnatural Damage
Damage calls and increases granted by a skill eg Melee or Streetfighter are called natural Any number of these increases may stack. Some rare spells or miracles may also increase a natural damage call, and if this is the case will state so explicitly. Most spells and miracles that increase the damage call grant unnatural damage increases, of which only one may be in effect at a time, any further effects cast dispelling the one already in place unless the original effect says otherwise. If it is not stated then a damage increase applied by anything which is not a skill is unnatural.
Dealing Damage
An unskilled character is able to call HALF whilst wielding any single LARP-safe weapon (they are not permitted to use two weapons, but they may switch between hands), or throw a LARP-safe throwing dagger or rock for HALF. They cannot use a shield.
A Non-Combatant or Frail (See Disabilities) character's damage by weapon, after all natural or unnatural changes, will always be NOTHING. However, the type of damage can be changed, for example by the use of a magic weapon.
You may reduce a natural damage call you can make to a lesser one - e.g. call HALF or NOTHING instead of SINGLE.
Armour
Armour protects against damage by absorbing the first few hits to a location before it loses any hit points. Armour comes in three main kinds: physical, floating, and dexterity (DAC). Physical armour is armour that is actually worn and physrepped; leather trousers, chainmail shirts and so on are all kinds of physical armour. Floating armour is usually gained from supernatural sources; it may be stacked with (added to) physical armour and it is not physrepped. DAC is the ability either to dodge blows quickly, or to be aware that a blow was about to strike you and take actions to avoid it; again, you do not need to physrep DAC.
THROUGH damage acts disregarding all kinds of armour. Rather than applying the damage to your armour you should apply it to your hits on the location struck. Your armour remains unaffected and will still have its normal effect against subsequent non-THROUGH damage. If your physical or floating armour (but not DAC) totally absorbs a blow containing VENOM damage (IE you do not lose any hits to the location the armour is being worn on), then it has protected you against any long-term effects of the venom.
Physical Armour
Armour physreps come in four levels of protection:
- Level 1 - light leathers and furs
- Level 2 - heavier leather, usually studded or riveted
- Level 3 - chainmail and ringmail, also very heavy leathers with good coverage at ref discretion
- Level 4 - full metal plate, also high coverage, good quality mail at ref discretion
A piece of armour worn provides a number of hitpoints to the location(s) that it covers equal to its level. For example, a chainmail vest (armour level 3) gives you three extra hitpoints to your torso location while it is worn. You cannot stack two different kinds of physical armour to gain the protection of both types; only the one providing the most protection will count. For the purposes of simplicity, if armour covers more than 50% of a location, it is assumed to cover it all, and if you mix types of armour on a location then the number of armour points granted will be determined by a Ref for you (it will be an average of the types of armour worn). Poor quality physreps will see a reduction in the level of protection that they provide. Plastic 'Plate Armour' from a joke shop will not gain you 4 points of armour.
Armour counted as 3 or 4 points is deemed, regardless of appearance, to contain too much metal to be safely useable by mages and elemental elves.
Each character can wear only a certain number of armour points at any one time. You calculate the number of armour points you are wearing by adding up the number of armour points worn on each location. So, light leather trousers (two locations at 1pt each) and a chainmail vest (one location, 3pts) will be 5 points of armour. A starting character with no armour skills can wear a total of 3 points of armour, and the ability to wear more can be bought in the Warrior, Wilderness and Subterfuge classes.
Armour repair
If armour is damaged during a fight, then it must be repaired to bring it up to full strength; this takes one minute of roleplayed fixing per location you wish to repair, and your entire attention must be fixed upon the repair (so no scouting, not much talking, etc). You may fix someone else's armour, however if you do not normally wear that kind of armour and have no good IC reason to know how to mend it you should get someone to instruct you.
Floating Armour
This is stacked on top of any physical armour you are wearing. If you have one armour spell or miracle already acting on you, then you may choose whether to keep it or change to the new armour if another armour spell is cast on you, but you may not have both. Floating armour is always reduced before the normal armour you are wearing can take any damage, and is always global. There is no limit to the number of points of floating armour you may have acting on you at any one time, but Floating Armour cannot be repaired, except with a spell or miracle designed for that effect.
Dexterity Armour
DAC is stacked on top of any floating or physical armour you are wearing, and is again reduced before any other armour you are wearing. One point of DAC armour will totally negate the first blow that it blocks (as you dodge or roll with the blow), regardless of what the call is (yes, your DAC can be wasted by a call of NOTHING, or come in very useful when you avoid a QUAD...). DAC is global, so one point of DAC will allow you to avoid the effects of one blow, no matter the location, and then it is reduced to zero. It returns after a brief period of rest (in a similar manner to physical armour, but one minute will regenerate all damaged DAC armour, and it returns whilst repairing physical armour). You may not use your DAC whilst unconscious, restrained, or under the effects of FREEZE or HALT, or against the calls DROP or SLAY. DAC does not work against any blow containing the words THROUGH or VENOM.
All kinds of DAC work in the same way, whether they are granted through Agility, Combat Awareness, spells or racial abilities. The only exception to this is that DAC granted through the Agility skill will not work if the person is wearing any Level 3 or 4 armour.
Special Damage Types
Unless you are told otherwise (for example by a racial brief), take normal damage from Coloured, Magic or Spirit damage calls.
Venom Damage
The word VENOM as part of a damage call means that the call includes two extra degrees of damage from a blade venom. Unless you are explicitly statted as resistant or immune to venom, you should just take the damage call as-is. Also, remember whether you lost any body hits from that call, and tell a ref afterwards if so, because you may suffer additional effects.
Subdual Damage
This is bruising damage rather than lethal damage, such as when you might want to beat a friend or an enemy unconscious but don't want to cause them lasting harm or risk their death. The call is SUBDUE [Damage]. Subdual damage cannot reduce a location to below 0 hits. A location that is reduced to 0 by Subdual damage is useless (lose the use of a limb, or fall unconscious). Five minutes after the last SUBDUE call is made to a location, then all subdual damage is healed. If damage is taken to a location reduced to 0 by subdual damage, that location then begins to bleed (see above). In addition, all the damage is converted to lethal and must be healed as normal.
Through damage
Through damage works exactly like normal damage, but acts through any armour of any kind that the victim may have. Rather than applying the damage to your armour you should apply it to your hits on the location struck. Your armour will still work against subsequent non-Through damage.
Babies and animals
All babies and pet animals that are physrepped in uptime have one global hit and a 2 minute death count. They start their death count whenever they are hit while on zero hits, like PCs. They can be healed as normal by miracles and alchemy, but not by First Aid IV. However they can be bandaged with First Aid II.