Difference between revisions of "Book:Adventures"

Revision as of 19:00, 25 April 2010

In the course of your character's story, just about anything could happen. The dangers are many on the road to death or glory. This chapter deals with many of the elements of the game

Health and Healing

As mentioned earlier, a character's life-force is measured in Health Points. Most folks start off with 30 of these at character creation, though some characters and monsters have more or less.

When a character rests at the end of a day, chances are that character has lost some Health Points. A character regains a number of lost HP equal to their Endurance score plus their Vitality score for each night they rest peacefully. Injured characters can also be tended by healers and medics overnight, which yields more HP recovery. The character attempting to administer overnight healing to the wounded one rolls either a Lore: Medicine and Healing, Occupation: Healer or Surgeon or Medic, or other applicable skill check against a DL of 12. For each point of success, the attended character regains an additional HP (in addition to Endurance + Vitality). Healers may tend to themselves overnight in this way, but cannot tend to more than one person per night.

It is important to remember that a character can never regain more HP than he or she has in total.

It is said that there exist elixirs which instantly heal wounds and restore life force. Some elixirs are rumored to enhance the prowess of the drinker or to restore youth. The availability of these elixirs is most certainly rare and they would be pricey at best. Only practitioners of magic or experienced alchemists would have the knowledge of the workings of these concoctions, let alone be able to produce them.

The natural world, as opposed to the magical one, however, is rich with verdant energy. Finding herbs and nectars that can help in restoring a character's health is much easier. If an adventurer is seeking it, he or she should be able to purchase things like herbal salves, ointments, poultices, etc. that can be applied to a wound. Other legends tell of flowers that cure specific illnesses. Some say that the fruit of rare trees can heal in much the same way. Generally speaking, these items assist the process of healing when a character rests overnight. The GM should be the final authority on the availability of healing supplements and their price.

Damage and Death

When a character suffers hurts, whether from the actions of foes in combat, bad luck, or naturally occurring hazards, they suffer damage. Whereas Hurt is a term used to describe the lethal power of weapons and the like, Damage means the amount of injury a character sustains in the form of lost Health Points. When a character reaches 0 HP, they die. Cry you may, but die you must.

Tainted Damage is a form of damage which cannot be healed in the normal fashion of resting and healing. It is so insidious that it must be healed by magical, supernatural or highly specialized means. Forms of healing will always say if they heal tainted damage. Tainted damage is often caused by dark and destructive magic, the natural weapons of monsters, or cursed items and traps. When a character suffers tainted damage the GM should be sure to point it out. The player may want to jot down somewhere obvious how much tainted damage the character has accrued, since those lost HP will not be recovered in the normal way.

When a character dies, there's no denying, that kind of sucks. The dead character is not playable anymore and the player has to create a new character if he or she wants to continue playing with that group of gamers. Some GMs will allow for things like resurrection, so maybe it isn't the end for your character. Often, however, these magical rites are costly and rarely performed. The main thing to remember is not to get discouraged. This has happened to many of us veteran gamers and it has happened to us innumerable times. There are even some gamers who have come to embrace the fact that their characters never seem to last long. Just draw up a new character and keep playing. The reaper comes for us all, eventually.

See the House Rules section for some more information on injury, healing, and death.

Diseases

In addition to the physical dangers of the world, characters are often accosted by sniffles and common ailments, as well as many serious bacterial and viral diseases. In Elysium, when it comes to disease and plague, snot-rockets are the least of your worries.

When a character comes in contact with a disease, the character must make a save to avoid becoming infected with the disease. The exact save may vary according to the specific disease, but mostly these are Mutation and Grunt Saves. Some diseases are spread through touch, others through injury and direct contact with the blood, and others still are airborne. The DL of the save is dependent on the level of disease, but GM's may decide that a particularly resistant or deadly strain of the disease attacks the character and so the DL would be higher in this case. If the initial save is failed, the character is infected and will suffer the effects of the disease daily until a subsequent save is passed. Whenever the character rests, he or she may attempt another save to avoid suffering the ill effects of the disease for that day. If the character makes another successful save the next time he or she rests, the character is considered to have beaten the disease. So, really, after being infected the character needs to make two consecutive saves in order to shrug off a disease completely.

1. Level One - Stage One KO
2. Level Two - Stage Two KO
3. Level Three - Stage Three KO
4. Level Four - Stage Four KO
5. Level Five - Infected character is comatose each day the save is failed

If a character with ranks in Lore: Medicine/Healing or other medical-related skill is on hand, he or she can make a skill check instead of the character's save. If successful, this works just as if the character had rolled a successful save.

Listed below are some simple diseases.

• Minor Malaise - The infected character begins each day at Stage One on the Knockout Chart as sniffles, a low-fever, and aches and pains gently pelt the body with slight discomfort. Most employers will ask for a note from the doctor if the character misses work. (Airborne, DL 10, Mutation)

• Icy Shivers - The infected character begins to shiver violently and suffers from a feeling of extreme cold, dizziness, and numbness in extremities. Fatal if endured for long. Writing becomes impossible, and skill-checks requiring manual dexterity or steady hands, including Attack Rolls and Defense Rolls, suffer a -4 penalty. The infected character becomes increasingly dependent on extreme heat, and in bad cases, may attempt to burn themselves. (Airborne, DL 14, Mutation)

• Rusty Leg - Flu-like symptoms including nausea, weakness, and vomiting accompany a nasty red-orange rash which causes the inflamed skin to flake like rust. Character has a hard time walking faster than a shuffle due to pain in the shins and feet, which is where the symptoms usually first manifest. Speed is reduced to 5 ft./AP and Attack and Defense Rolls, as well as any skill checks which require speed and agility suffer a -4 penalty. (Injury, DL 12, Grunt)

• Violet Death - A plague-like sickness which begins with itching and a bile-like taste in the mouth the day after infection. On the second day, purple splotches begin to appear first around the armpits, feet, and crotch of the victim, then appearing on the neck, elbows and knees and spreading outwards. On the third day, open sores appear on the skin, which turn necrotic and begin to rot, causing damage to the infected character. The character takes 2 points of damage per hour for one week. The damage increases to 4 points per hour during the second week of infection On the third week of infection, the damage ceases, but the disease remains with the character, and is contagious. If the character's state is obvious, he or she takes a -6 penalty on all rolls involving social interaction with strangers. (Touch, DL 16, Grunt)

• Hematic Scourge - Three days after becoming infected, the character is wracked by terrible pain. They are considered KO'd, but still conscious, and so are incapable of skill checks or attack and defense rolls. The body begins to seep blood out of the pores and orifices (ten tainted damage each day). Screaming and moaning are commonplace, as are last will and testaments. (Injury, DL 18, Grunt)

Poisons

In the words of the immortal Socrates: "I just drank what?" Be careful of that goblet of wine, friend, it may have worse things in it than cheap merlot. Poison is a common weapon in the political world of kings and pawns. Then there are the exotic animals and monsters of the world with their natural venoms. Anything that poisons the blood and causes impairment is considered a poison. Poisons work in much the same way as Diseases. When a character comes into contact with a poison, a save is required. If passed, everything is fine. If failed, the character has been poisoned. Some poisons enter the bloodstream through injury, some must be imbibed, and some can simply be absorbed through contact with the skin.

1. Level One - 1 damage/round
2. Level Two - 2 damage/round
3. Level Three - 4 damage/round
4. Level Four - 8 damage/round
5. Level Five - 16 damage/round

• Ginger Ivy Oil Extract- The oils of the Ginger Ivy plant severely irritate the skin, causing small blisters and boils which itch like a sonofagun. If the extract of the plant is imbibed, it causes the mouth and throat to swell and blister. The victim often tears frantically at his or her own throat in a futile attempt at relief, and this sometimes does more damage than the Ginger Ivy Oil. (Contact, DL 10, character starts each day at Stage One on the Knock-out track for three days, suffers -1 to social interaction; Imbibed, DL 18, Mutation, character must make a save each round for 10 rounds, taking difference in failed saves as damage)

• Webking Venom - The venom of these huge spiders causes a drowsy or unconscious state in its victims. (Injury, DL 14, character progresses Two Stages on Knock-out Track)

• Mortarstone Poison - This alchemical poison is capable of thickening and hardening the blood in a victim's veins, causing rigidity and heart attack. (Imbibed, DL 18

• Hag's Blood - This is the actual blood pulled from the veins of slain hags. It is highly toxic and causes short bouts of violent illness and hallucinations. (Imbibed

• Black Lotus Poison - Capable of killing in a matter of seconds, Black Lotus poison is many assassins' preferred weapon. It is swift, traceless, and extremely potent. (Imbibed, Injury, Contact, DL 20, character makes a save each round for 10 rounds or takes 10 damage per failed save).

Condition

Sometimes a character can be impaired through other causes than the loss of blood and HP. Often, diseases, poisons, spells, or strong emotions can affect how well a character feels.

The Knock-out Chart

As a character becomes increasingly exhausted, ill, dazed, or punch-drunk, that character moves further down the Knock-out Track. The further down the track a character is, the more penalties are applied to skill checks, attack and defense rolls, and saves.

• Blinded - Unable to see at all. Blind characters automatically fail Spot checks and cannot benefit from or be harmed by spells, abilities or skill checks that rely on sight.

• Confused - Unable to tell friend from foe. Confused characters have a 50/50 chance to mistake allies for opponents.

• Deafened - Unable to hear. Deafened characters automatically fail Listen checks and cannot benefit from or be harmed by spells, abilities or skill checks that rely on hearing.

• Grabbed - Currently held in a Grab by another character.

• Paralyzed - Unable to move. A character who is paralyzed may not engage in actions or checks that require physical movement.

• Prone - Off your feet and on the ground. Prone characters suffer a -4 to Defense rolls until they stand up.

• Unconscious - Helpless and unresponsive. Rousing a sleeping ally takes 4AP

• Wide-eyed - Surprised and unprepared for the action at hand. A character who is wide-eyed in combat adds only their Armor score and Endurance score to Defense Rolls (i.e. no Cunning, Weapon Skill, Agility, or Dodge).

Environment

The Delve

Preparing for exploration.

Hazards

Extreme heat Extreme cold

Point A to Point B

Character Progression

Expoints

Personality

Faults