Damage and Dying
When an attack hits, follow these steps to resolve damage and its consequences. Rules sourced from Chapter 9: Combat (pp. 182–196) and Chapter 2: Character.
Resilience
Resilience is your character's damage threshold — how much punishment an attack must deal before it hurts you.
- Base Resilience = Toughness rating + 1
- Total Resilience = Base Resilience + Armour bonus
- Armour Penetration (AP): Before applying damage, reduce the target's Resilience by the weapon's AP value
Resolving Damage
After a successful hit, calculate total damage (weapon Damage value + Extra Damage Dice icons + Strength for melee), then:
- Subtract the weapon's AP from the target's Resilience.
- Subtract the remaining Resilience from total damage.
- Apply the result:
| Result | Effect |
|---|---|
| Damage exceeds Resilience | Suffer Wounds equal to the difference |
| Damage equals Resilience | Suffer 1 Shock |
| Damage below Resilience | No effect |
Mortal Wounds bypass Resilience entirely and inflict Wounds directly. Determination cannot negate Mortal Wounds (unless a Talent or Wargear states otherwise).
Wounds
Wounds represent physical damage to your body.
- Maximum Wounds = (Tier × 2) + Toughness; you start each session at 0 Wounds
- Wounded: having any Wounds imposes +1 DN to all Tests
- Determination: when you suffer Wounds, you may roll a number of dice equal to your Toughness; each Icon converts 1 Wound into 1 Shock instead
Shock
Shock represents mental and psychological strain.
- Maximum Shock = Willpower + Tier; you start at 0 Shock
- Exceeding Maximum Shock = Exhausted condition
- Restore Shock in combat: spend your Combat Action and 1 Wrath → recover Shock equal to Rank + Tier
- A full Respite (~6 hours uninterrupted) resets Shock and Wounds to 0
Dying
You become Dying when your current Wounds exceed your Maximum Wounds.
When you become Dying:
- Immediately suffer a Memorable Injury (roll d6 on the Memorable Injuries table)
- Fall Prone and cannot stand while Dying
Actions While Dying
A Dying character may only take one of the following on their Turn:
- Crawl
- A basic Combat Action (no options such as Aim or Multi-Attack)
- Fall Back
When Dying, replace additional dice in your pool with Wrath Dice equal to your current Traumatic Injuries. A Complication on any Wrath Die while Dying inflicts another Traumatic Injury.
Traumatic Injuries
Any damage that would cause a Wound while you are already Dying inflicts a Traumatic Injury instead (roll d6 on the Traumatic Injuries table for location).
| Traumatic Injuries suffered | Consequence |
|---|---|
| More than Tier + 1 | Dead |
You may roll Determination while Dying; reducing damage to 0 via Determination prevents the Traumatic Injury.
Annihilation
If a single attack inflicts damage greater than double your Maximum Wounds, you die immediately — no Dying phase, no Traumatic Injuries.
Recovery from Dying
Recovering any number of Wounds removes the Dying condition.
Critical Hits
If you roll a 6 on the Wrath Die on a successful attack, you score a Critical Hit. If total damage does not exceed the target's Resilience, still inflict 1 Wound and trigger a Critical Effect (roll d66 on the Critical Hit Table). You may spend Glory to improve Critical Hit effects.
Healing
| Method | Wounds Restored |
|---|---|
| Regroup (~1 hour) | Medicae (Int) dice pool, by a character with Medicae Rating |
| Respite (~6 hours) | All Wounds and Shock reset to 0; Wrath resets to 2 |
You cannot benefit from a Respite while Dying.