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Characters generate a number, "Hit Point Total", the average of CON and SIZ. This is used to determine the hit-points-per-location, per RQ II. However, characters don't track damage to their Hit Point Total.
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Humanoid Hit Points Per Location |
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|
location |
Total Hit Points |
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|
01-06 |
07-09 |
10-12 |
13-15 |
16-18 |
19-21 |
each +3 |
|
|
each leg |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
+1 |
|
abdomen |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
+1 |
|
chest |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
+1 |
|
each arm |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
+1 |
|
head |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
+1 |
Damage effects per location are treated pretty close to RQII, see below:
Arm or Leg: limb cannot be used. Each five minutes (25 melee rounds, or 1 full turn), the character loses 1 Blood Point for each limb affected, unless First Aid or other measures are employed to reduce the bleeding. Buffeting damage doesn't cause blood loss.
Chest: character falls, cannot do anything consequential. Each 5 minutes (25 melee rounds, or 1 full turn), the character loses Blood Points equal to the damage taken in the location, unless First Aid (at reduced skill level) or Medicine or other measures are employed to reduce the bleeding. Buffeting damage doesn't cause blood loss.
Abdomen: character falls, legs are useless. Character STR reduced. Each 5 minutes (25 melee rounds, or 1 full turn), the character loses Blood Points equal to the damage taken in the location, unless First Aid (at reduced skill level) or Medicine or other measures are employed to reduce the bleeding. Buffeting damage doesn't cause blood loss.
Head: character falls and is unconscious. Each melee round, the character loses Blood Points equal to the damage taken in the location, unless First Aid (at reduced skill level) or Medicine or other measures are employed to reduce the bleeding. Buffeting damage doesn't cause blood loss.
Character is functionally incapacitated, may apply first aid to themselves or other "heroic" stuff (if they're conscious).
Buffeting attacks don't do anything special for this kind of result.
Arm or Leg: limb is severed or maimed (exception: limb is "merely" perforated and the character is functionally incapacitated). Each 5 minutes (25 melee rounds, or 1 full turn), the character loses Blood Points equal to the normal hit points for that location, unless First Aid or other measures are employed to reduce the bleeding.
Head: instant death
Chest or Abdomen: death in one round; characters might make a single heroic action or utter a dying phrase.
Tentative! May Not End Up Being A Useful Thing.
If you've taken damage that results in a location having only 1 hit point remaining, then skills or activities which use that location are, generally speaking, "halved".
Leg: movement rates halved, skills like Swimming, Jumping, Kick are halved.
Arm: skills like Climbing are halved; combat skills that use that location are halved.
Head: Spot Hidden and any other using-your-head skills are halved.
Chest or Abdomen: I'm sure we can think of something. STR and CON halved?
The purpose of this rule is to have some effect between "fully able" and "not functional at all".
Impaling wounds cause immediate blood loss equal to the damage done. Slashing wounds cause immediate blood loss equal to twice the damage done. Crushing wounds cause immediate blood loss equal to 1/2 of the damage done (round down). Buffeting damage doesn't cause significant blood loss.
Blood Points represent the total volume of blood in your body when healthy -- 1 Blood Point is 0.1 liter of blood. Specifically, blood is 8% of body weight for humans, and thus Blood Points are equal to 0.8 x your mass in kilograms, if you want to calculate a more specific value. Donating more than 1/8 of your blood is considered a risk, so maximum "normal" donation is 1/4 of your BP total.
Major Kodiak weighs 125 kg, and thus has 100 Blood Points.
A mallard duck weighs about 1 kg; let's assume it's got 8% of its body mass as blood: thus, about 1 Blood Point in the whole duck.
A roe deer buck (Robin Hood's favorite target) weighs about 30 kg; it thus has about 24 Blood Points.
Up to 20%: no effect
21% to 30%: you notice it; skills reduced by 10%; need blood volume expander
31% to 40%: bad; skills halved; need whole blood; may not take the Run major action
41% to 50%: very bad. No combat skills, or any skills requiring more than pushing a button; may not take the Run major action, and movement is a bit slower when using the Move minor action. Needs a lot of whole blood or blood volume expander.
51% to 60%: pretty certainly unconscious, dead in few minutes even if bleeding stops unless First Aid or Medicine (at reduced effect) or Surgery skill succeeds (and replacement of lost blood volume). Must remain prone, can't take the Run major action (if conscious at all). Get your famous last words ready ...
61% or more: dead in a melee round or two. A Morrow Project med berth can save you, if it makes its roll; or a Surgery skill roll, in an emergency room or operating room. .
Major Kodiak (18 HP, 100 blood points) is being attacked; his Hit Points per Location chart looks like this:
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head: 6 |
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r arm: 5 |
chest: 7 |
l arm: 5 |
|
abdom: 6 |
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r leg: 6 |
l leg: 6 |
He's wearing a resistweave coverall (flexible, armor value 7) which covers all locations except his head. More to come
In general, 1980s era First Aid can restore hit points as follows:
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First Aid skill test results |
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|
Success |
Restores 1d3 Hit Points to a single location. |
|
Special |
Restores 2d3 Hit Points to a single location. |
|
Critical |
Restores 3+1d3 Hit Points to a single location. |
A few simple items are required for that amount of healing: a large bandage or field dressing, at least. When used for treating injuries, the Medicine skill takes at least 15 minutes uninterrupted effort as well as appropriate equipment and supplies:
|
Medicine skill test results |
|
|
Success |
Restores 2d3 Hit Points to a single wound or injury. |
|
Special |
Restores 3+1d3 Hit Points to a single wound or injury. |
|
Critical |
Restores 6 Hit Points to a single wound or injury. |
The referee will provide guidance on long-term effects, disabilities, etc. (casts on broken legs, walking with a cane, etc.).
Natural healing occurs in healthy persons at 1 hit point per week per wounded location; this rate can increase a bit with good medical care.
Part of the technological marvel that is the Med Kit is that it can heal some wounds fully. Specifically, it can provide 4 points of healing (which is cumulative with the effects of Medicine or First Aid skill), and might provide 5 points if it makes its 75% First Aid roll. If the Med Kit heals a wound to the appropriate level, then the other effects (maiming, incapacitation, etc.) caused by the wound go away (but lost blood remains lost). A certain amount of "mechanical" preparation is wise -- remove bullets, major amounts of dirt and contamination, and embedded teeth, etc. More treatment by the Med Kit or using First Aid skill will have no cumulative effect (though Medicine skill may).
The Med Kit considers any wound of less than half of the hit points in a location to be minor; major wounds are those which caused damage equal to or greater than half of the points in a hit location. Round numbers in the player's favor.
A well-stocked paramedic or military medic kit can be used by a trained medic to treat a very large number (not a whole town, though) of minor wounds; 20 major wounds; 4 maiming/amputation wounds; and 2 persons needing large amounts of IV fluids. Note that "treating" a maiming/amputation wound for anything but stopping bleeding will call for Medicine skill test.
Natural regeneration of blood occurs at 1 Blood Point per week (actually, it's proportional to bone mass, but this is easier). Specifically, it's the red blood cells that take all that time -- plasma, proteins, white blood cells, etc. can all reappear in a day or so (presuming the wounded person is properly hydrated).
If half of your normal Blood Points have been replaced by volume expanders ... more to come, it's complicated. Here's a page on transfusions, and another page on hematocrit. Direct transfusions (donor to recipient) is about twice as effective as a transfusion of stored blood (direct transfusions bring all the lovely blood components, and are pre-heated).