HOUSERULES: INJURIES PART 1 (Patreon)

As many of you already know, this Friday our group is having a Battle Royale - a PC versus PC rumble - to help everyone learn the new combat rules I've installed, and to let everyone get used to the limits of their characters. I've already made a map for it, and I'm rather keen to see how it turns out.

One of the biggest changes in our House Rules is how Injuries are handled. Want to read part 1 of that?

Well, let's go!

[Andy Note: This post has been edited after some feedback on Discord and Facebook.]

INJURY

‘I would bear a thousand scars on me back before I let ye wound me honour!’
– Reikhardt Backer, Reiklander White Wolf Captain

During play, the injuries your character suffers are handled by Damage and Wounds.

Damage

‘Damage’ refers to anything that can hurt your Character. This could be falling rocks, goblin spears, magical spells, or just stubbing your toe. Damage is measured with a number, such as Damage 10 or Damage SB+4 – in the latter example, you would take your Strength Bonus and add 4 to determine the Damage. The higher the Damage number, the more it hurts.

Wounds

'Wounds’ is one of the Attributes you determine during character generation (see Character). Wounds are used to show how much Damage you can endure before you are really hurt. When you suffer Damage, you lose a corresponding number of Wounds until you eventually have no Wounds remaining. Losing Wounds in this fashion represents suffering minor cuts, abrasions, bruises, and bashes, or the depletion of your spiritual and mental energy reserves.

Receiving more Damage than you have remaining Wounds is potentially very bad. If it happens, you suffer a Critical Wound. Critical Wounds can result in permanent disability, the loss of limbs, or even death!

Losing Wounds

Each time you suffer a point of Damage, you lose 1 Wound. So, if you suffer 8 points of Damage, you lose 8 of your Wounds. If you are reduced to 0 Wounds, you are a bloodied mess barely clinging to consciousness. If you sustain any Damage when at 0 Wounds, you take a Critical Wound.

Critical Wounds

Any Damage sustained in excess of your Wounds causes a Critical Wound. Critical Wounds are serious injuries, such as broken bones, torn muscles, or ripped flesh. Suffer too many Critical Wounds and you run the risk of death.

A Critical Wound has its value determined by the amount of Damage you suffer after you’ve lost all your Wounds. So, if you suffered 8 Damage and you had 3 Wounds remaining, you would suffer a +5 Critical Wound. Similarly, if you suffered 7 Damage and had no Wounds remaining, you would suffer a +7 Critical Wound.

Whenever you receive a Critical Wound, consult the relevant Critical Wound table taking the location hit and the Critical Wound Value into account. For example, if you are struck in the Body Hit Location and suffer 5 Damage more than you have Wounds, you receive a +5 Critical Wound and should check the +5 entry in the Body Critical Wound table to see what has happened.

Critical Hits

Critical Wounds also occur when you score Critical Hit in Combat by rolling a double equal to or under your tested Skill (see Rules). When this occurs, you take the rolled 10s number to determine the resulting Critical Wound's value. So, a roll of 11 scores a +1 Critical. A roll of 22 scores a +2 Critical, and so on. 

Multiple Critical Wounds

Each Critical Wound you suffer increases the severity of any future Critical Wounds.

For each Critical Wound you currently have, add +1 to the Critical Wound value of any subsequent Critical Wound you suffer. So, if you already have 2 Critical Wounds and have no Wounds remaining, and then you are hit for 4 more Damage, you suffer a +6 Critical Wound. Suffering multiple Critical Wounds like this usually results in a swift and brutal death.

Sudden Death

Rather than look up Critical Wound tables during the thick of play, you may simply wish to know if an opponent is dead or not. The GM can do this by using the Sudden Death rules.

When a target suffers a Critical Wound with a value in excess of the target’s TB, the target dies. Any other Critical Wound value inflicts an Unconscious Condition.

Sudden Death is useful for quickly dealing with minor foes. This rules are not intended for PCs or important NPCs.

Pulling Your Blows

The same as WFRP4 core.

Critical Wound Table

There are four Critical Wound tables – one for Head, Arm, Body, and Leg hits. Whenever you receive a Critical Wound, reference its value on the relevant Critical Wound Table. So, if you receive a +2 Critical Hit to the Head, look up the +2 result on the Head Critical Wound table.

If no Hit Location is specified when Damage strikes, count it as a Body hit.

*  *  *

And that's it for Part 1. Comments and queries are very welcome.

As is always the case with House Rules, these are in-progress and subject to change until I post the final version. So, if you have a funky idea to speed this up or add some awesome character, tell me.

Either post here if you are a patron or head over to the LAWhammer Discord and ask there. I may also answer queries on Twitter or Facebook, but that's much less certain.

Next up will be be some Critical Tables. Probably Slashing first.

Andy Law
1st August 2022