Damage & Healing

Disfigurement and the risk of death are constant threats of those who try to make something of themselves in the Shadoweave. The thrust of a knife, a well-placed bullet, or a blast of shrapnel from a grenade all have the potential to damage, or even kill, the hardiest of citizens.

Quicklinks: Hit Points Lethal, Non-Lethal, Damage Negation | Dying | Healing | Exsanguinating | Dealing Damage | Damage Types Innate, Critical | Damage Type Modification | Fall & Crash Damage Damage, Vehicle Speeds, Safe Fall, Collision Damage | Grievous Injury from Damage Minor Injury, Major Injury

Hit Points

Hit points represent your physical durability: the total amount of damage you can sustain.

Whenever you take damage, it is added to any existing damage you have already sustained of the same damage class (lethal vs. non-lethal). Any source of damage is considered to be a lethal source of damage, unless a game rule, weapon property, or other mechanic specifically says otherwise.

Lethal Damage

Most damage you will receive is considered to be lethal damage: damage with the intention to kill. If your lethal damage ever equals or surpasses your hit points, you begin the process of dying (see below).

Exhaustive Damage. Whenever you suffer lethal damage equal to half of your hit points or more from a single source, you gain 1 level of exhaustion.

Extreme Damage. In the event of extreme lethal damage you can die outright. If your lethal damage ever becomes equal to or greater than double your hit points, you die instantaneously, bypassing the process of dying.

Healing Lethal Damage. You naturally heal 1 point of lethal damage after 24 hours of not receiving any lethal damage.

Non-Lethal Damage

Some damage you receive is not done with the intention of killing you, this damage is what is considered to be non-lethal damage. If your non-lethal damage ever equals or surpasses your hit points, you become crippled (see the condition).

Exhaustive Damage. Whenever you suffer non-lethal damage equal to half of your hit points or more from a single source, you gain 1 level of exhaustion.

Extreme Damage. In the event of extreme non-lethal damage your life can become threatened. If your non-lethal damage ever becomes equal to or greater than double your hit points, you begin the process of dying.

Healing Non-Lethal Damage. You naturally heal 1 point of non-lethal damage after 1 hour of not receiving any non-lethal damage.

Damage Negation

Some devices and special abilities confer negation to you. negation acts as a buffer against damage.

When you have negation and take damage (both lethal and non-lethal), the negation is lost first, and any leftover damage carries over to deal damage to you. For example, if you have 5 negation and take 7 damage, you lose the negation and then take 2 damage.

Healing can’t restore negation, and negation can’t be combined. If you have negation and gain negation again, you decide whether to keep the negation you have or to gain the new negation. For example, if a device grants you 12 negation when you already have 10, you can have 12 or 10, not 22. This is particularly important if a device bestows special properties or effects to negation it provides. If you choose to replace that negation, you would lose those properties or effects.

If your lethal damage is above your hit points, receiving negation doesn’t negate the damage or even stabilize you. The negation can still absorb any damage directed at you while you’re in that state.

Unless the device or feature that grants you negation has a duration, it lasts until they’re depleted.

Dying

When you first begin dying, your lethal damage is set to your hit points, unless it is already higher. While dying, the follow effects occur:

• You are incapacitated (see the condition), can’t move, and can speak only falteringly.
• You drop whatever you are holding and fall prone (see the condition).
• You have disadvantage on all saving throws, other than death saving throws.
• You can not receive healing.
• At the start of your turn you must make a death saving throw.

Death Saving Throw. Roll a d20. If the roll is 11 or higher, you succeed. Otherwise, you fail. Regardless of success or failure, you gain 1 level of exhaustion. On your third success, you become stable. On your third failure, you die. The successes and failures don’t need to be consecutive; keep track of both until you collect three of a kind. The number of successes are reset to zero when you cease to be dying or you become stable, however the number of failures remains with you, until removed through resting or through other means.

Death Blow. When a creature hits you with an attack roll while you are dying, you must make a Fortitude saving throw in addition to receiving the damage, with the DC being equal to 5 + the damage received. On a failed save, you die outright.

Stable. While stable, you are incapaciated (see the condition) and no longer suffer any of the effects of dying. If you take any damage while stable you cease to be stable and you immediately gain 1 failed death saving throw.

Recovery. Once your damage is reduced below your hit points, you cease to be stable or dying.

Quick Death. Some creatures, such as monsters or commoners, may die the instant its lethal damage exceeds its hit points. The ability to cling to life in the face of death requires a strong will.

Healing

Whenever you are healed, you subtract the amount of damage healed from your non-lethal damage first, then any remaining damage healed is subtracted from your lethal damage.

Healing while Dying. When you are dying, you cannot heal damage until you become stable. Some features or devices can bypass this in order to restore you to a functional state. In all of those cases, the feature or device will state if it can heal damage to a dying creature. A hospital is always equipped to heal damage to a dying creature.

Resuscitation.  If you die, you can’t heal damage until you are resuscitated.  An item will state if it can resuscitate a creature or heal damage to a dead creature. A hospital can always attempt to resuscitate creatures that have recently died based on the nature and timing of their demise.

Exsanguinating

Traumatic injury can kill you long after the initial effect occurs. Some events, devices, or even receiving large amounts of damage from a physical damage source can cause you to begin the process of bleeding out externally, or even internally, referred to as exsanguinating.

While exsanguinating, you can not heal damage, and you suffer 2 physical damage every minute. Some effects may increase or decrease the damage taken from exsanguination.

Exsanguination can be cured with the use of a bleed patch, or any other devices or features that state it stops exsanguination.

Dealing Damage

All weapons, devices, or abilities specifies the damage it deals (if any). You roll the damage die or dice, add any modifiers if applicable, and apply the damage to your target. With a penalty, it is possible to deal 0 damage, but never negative damage.

If a device or other effect deals damage to more than one target at the same time, roll the damage once for all of them. For example, when a ballistic grenade detonates the grenades damage is rolled once for all creatures caught in the blast.

Damage Types

Different attacks, devices, and other harmful effects deal different types of damage. Damage types change how the damage will affect the target in a few different situations. Some damage types have subtypes. If any effect refers to a damage type with sub-types, then the effect applies to all of the sub-types. However, the reverse is not true. As an example, a creature that reduces elemental damage taken would reduce acid, cold, fire, and lightning damage, however, a creature that reduces acid damage taken will only reduce acid damage.

The damage types (and their subtypes) are as follows:

• Elemental
  • Acid
  • Cold
  • Fire
  • Lightning
  • Poison
• Laser
• Physical
  • Bludgeoning
  • Piercing
  • Slashing
• Plasma
• Psychic

Innate Properties

Not all damage is created equal, and some have innate properties that apply.

Elemental. Whenever you take elemental damage, you gain an ailment based on the damage subtype done. The ailment remains until cured.

• Acid causes Skin Damage
• Cold causes Drowsiness.
• Fire causes Irritability.
• Lightning causes Nerve Damage.
• Poison causes Nausea.
• If the elemental damage has no sub-type, you gain the Malaise ailment.

Laser. The first time you take laser damage on a turn, you gain 1 level of exhaustion.

Physical. Whenever you take 5 or more physical damage, you begin exsanguinating (explained above).

Plasma. Whenever you take plasma damage, you cannot heal damage for the next 1 minute.

Psychic. Psychic damage is always non-lethal unless specified otherwise, unlike other damage types.

Critical Properties

When you score a critical hit, the effect is determined by the damage type of the attack. See the below list for the exact critical effect:

• Elemental damage causes you to fall prone and makes you unable to take any reactions until the end of your next turn.
• Laser damage causes the target to become stunned until the end of it’s next turn.
• Physical damage causes you to suffer an additional 4 physical damage from exsanguination until it is cured.
• Plasma damage causes causes you begin the process of dying.
• Psychic damage causes you to become blinded and deafened for 1 minute. In addition, you lose your olfactory, gustatory, and tactiles senses.

Damage Type Modification

Some creatures and objects are exceedingly difficult or unusually easy to hurt with certain types of damage. These properties are explained below:

• Amplification. If a creature or an object has amplification from any damage type, usually written as the damage type plus a value (e.g. Laser Damage + 1), all damage of that type is increased by the value stated.
• Reduction. If a creature or an object has reduction from any damage type, usually written as the damage type minus a value (e.g. Elemental Damage – 3), all damage of that type is reduced by the value stated.
• Resistance. If a creature or an object has resistance to a damage type, damage of that type is halved against it.
• Vulnerability. If a creature or an object has vulnerability to a damage type, damage of that type is doubled against it.
• Immunity. If a creature or an object has immunity to a damage type, damage of that type is nullified against it.
• Absorption. If a creature or an object has absorption to a damage type, instead of taking damage of that type, the creature or object recovers hit points equal to half of the damage done (minimum of 1).

When multiple effects apply to a creature, these effects begin to cancel out to determine the effect. The effects are resolved following the below rules:

• Amplification and reduction cancel each other out. If a creature has Elemental Damage + 3 and Elemental Damage – 2, the creature is considered to have Elemental Damage +1.
• Resistance and vulnerability are applied to the creature after amplification and reduction.
• Resistance and vulnerability cancel each other out, regardless of how many sources of each the creature has.
• Absorption nullifies resistance, vulnerability, and immunity, however amplification and reduction still apply to the creature.

Multiple instances of resistance or vulnerability that affect the same damage type count as only one instance. For example, if a creature has resistance to elemental damage as well as resistance to fire damage, the damage of fire is reduced by half against the creature, not reduced by three-quarters.

Fall & Crash Damage

When you fall or find yourself hurled dangerously onto a surface, you risk suffering damage, grievous injury, or even death. Falling from a rooftop, crashing while driving a car, or having your body thrust against a fall are all situations that lead to suffering fall & crash damage.

Damage from Falling & Crashing

You suffer 1d6 physical damage as fall damage:

• For every 5 feet you fall or crash onto a solid surface, such as rock or concrete.
• For every 10 feet you fall or crash onto a semi-soft surface, such as mud or snow, or when you fall into water that is less than 15 feet deep.
• For every 20 feet you fall or crash into water that is at least 15 feet deep.

When calculating crash damage, you use the number of feet you are unable to move beyond the surface you collide into, then calculate damage identically to fall damage. As an example, if you are launched 100 feet and crash into a wall after 30 feet, you face 70 feet of crash damage.

If you take any damage from a fall or crash, you fall prone. If you end up submerged in water, you become stunned until the start of your next turn instead.

Vehicle Speeds & Crashes

When you crash into an object or otherwise wipe out while driving a vehicle, there is a need to know the amount of feet you were unable to travel due to the crash. You can use the below table to quickly find this value, it is equal to 8.8 feet × the MPH (or, 44 feet per 5 miles per hour). The below table rounds down to the nearest multiple of 5, as that is all that matters when calculating the crash damage (any value between two multiples of five does not affect the damage taken).

If the vehicle’s driver attempts to stop the vehicle, it will travel up to a quarter of its feet of crash damage, as determined by its speed travelling. This can severely reduce the damage done to another creature.

Safe Fall

Your safe fall determines how far you can safely fall or how much velocity you can withstand in a crash without experiencing trauma. When you experience a fall or crash you calculate any damage received after reducing the fall or crash distance by your safe fall.

Prepared Safe Fall. You can use an action to prepare to fall or crash, typically used when attempting to jump down from a great height. When you prepare to fall or crash, your safe fall is doubled until the end of your turn.

Collision Damage

You take damage not just from falling or colliding into objects yourself, but also when an object falls or collides into you. This damage is referred to as collision damage. A falling rock and a speeding car are all things that can lead to a dangerous, and potentially fatal outcome.

The damage you take from a colliding object is variable and is composed of two variables: Distance interval and Damage per interval.

Distance interval determines the number of dice that are rolled in a collision. The damage per interval determines the type of dice.

Distance Interval. Distance Interval determines the number of dice that are rolled in a collision. Every time the object reaches its distance interval, it gains an additional die when rolling collision damage.

For falling objects, the distance interval is always 5 feet.

For speeding objects, the object’s current speed (what it could move in a round of combat) is divided by the distance interval to determine the number of dice.

Damage per Interval. The damage per interval determines the type of dice rolled every time the object reaches its distance interval.

Look at the below tables to determine an object’s damage per interval and the distance interval  (if it is a speeding object).

You make a Dexterity saving throw with a DC equal to 5 + 5 for every size category above tiny the colliding object is. On a success, you take no damage and the object bypasses you harmlessly. On a failed save, you take crash damage for each distance increment the object passes.

For example, if a 1 pound object falls 100 feet before striking you, you suffer 10d2 physical damage as crash damage.

Safe Falling and Collision Damage. If a creature falls or crashes into you, you automatically succeed on the Dexterity saving throw if the initiating creature does not take any fall or crash damage.

Grievous Injury from Damage

When you suffer lethal damage equal to half of your hit points or more, you will risk a chance of suffering a minor grievous injury.

When you suffer lethal damage equal to your hit points or more from a single source, you suffer a major grievous injury.

Review the tables below to determine which grievous injury you receive.

Physical Damage. When you suffer generic physical damage, determine what column (between bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing) you roll against randomly using a d3, or the GM may determine the most appropriate column based on the context.

Psychic Damage. When you suffer psychic damage, it does not cause any grievous injuries unless the source specifies otherwise.

Minor Grievous Injury by Damage Type

Roll 2d10 and compare the result to the table below (pick the column that matches the damage’s type).

Major Grievous Injury by Damage Type

Roll 2d10 and compare the result to the table below (pick the column that matches the damage’s type).