Hit Points
Hit Points or HP is a representation of your fatigue, will to fight, and how much damage you are able to take before taking penalties and eventually going Unconscious or Dying. To calculate your HP, take your Constitution score and multiply it by your HP multiplier, then add any bonuses to HP that you possess.
Injury and Death
Loss of Hit Points
Over the course of a game, you may be in situations such as combat where you are at risk and have your HP lowered by taking lethal damage. This damage represents everything from battle fatigue, small bruises or scratches, to life threatening Mortal Wounds.
Effects of Hit Point Damage
Damage slowly weakens you, applying Wounds as detailed below, until your current HP reaches 0 or lower. At 0 HP, you gain the Disabled condition. If your HP total is below 0, but above half of your Constitution score + half of your Spirit score in negative HP, you are considered Dying and have limited actions you may take.
When your negative HP total equals half of your Constitution score + half of your Spirit score or greater, you fall unconscious and are no longer able to act. If your negative HP reaches the total of your Constitution score + Spirit score, you must make a Body Save or take a Mortal Wound. If you ever reach 3 Mortal Wounds, you die.
Battle Wounds and Mortal Wounds
At base, you suffer from a Wound for every 25 percent of HP you have lost under your maximum HP, giving you a – 1 penalty to all d20 rolls that you make. Some talents or abilities may modify Whenever you gain Wounds, or how many Wounds you gain. Only lethal damage can trigger Wounds, Nonlethal damage has no effect on Wound thresholds.
Mortal Wounds
When your negative HP reaches the total of your Constitution score + your Spirit score, you must make a Body Save (DC 10 + 2 per Save made that encounter + Critical Rating of the Effect that put you in negative hit points OR the most recent attack) each round you are at this negative hit point amount or lower, or gain a Mortal Wound. Additionally, you must make this Save whenever you are damaged while at this negative HP amount or lower or gain a Mortal Wound. Any Save to resist naturally gained Mortal Wounds do not suffer from any Wound or Mortal Wound penalties.
- A mortal wound is a grievous injury that inflicts a permanent 1 Dire Reduction on you until you receive appropriate treatment such as restoration or other similar effects. Once you have reached 3 Mortal Wounds you die. These mortal wounds do not need to be gained in the same combat and any 3 Mortal Wounds accrued over time and not removed will kill you.
Companions, cohorts, named NPCs, and some enemies may also possess Mortal Wounds as detailed above. In certain circumstances GMs may not provide Mortal Wounds to NPCs or may provide a lesser amount of Mortal Wounds, such as a group with a large amount of cohorts the cohorts may have less Mortal Wounds then normal. The average enemy or non-unique NPC typically do not have Mortal Wounds.
Disabled (0 Hit Points)
When your current HP total reaches exactly 0, you are Disabled. You gain the Disabled condition and can only take a single Basic Action each turn. For more information see Conditions.
Healing that raises your HP above 0 makes you fully functional again, just as if you had never been reduced to 0 or fewer hit points; however, you still take any Wound penalties that you possess until your HP is above your threshold for that Wound.
Dying (Negative Hit Points)
If your HP total is negative, but not equal to or greater than half of your Constitution score + Spirit score, you are Dying. While dying you may only take a single Basic Action each turn that is heavily limited. Any movement you take is reduced by half and while you make take a 5ft step it does consume your Basic Action. You may not take any Immediate actions or Reactions while in this state. Strenuous activity such as spellcasting requires Concentration checks to perform while Dying. While in this state you are considered Defeated as long as you do not take any actions deemed offensive by the enemy. If any action is taken you take 1 point of damage that cannot be mitigated.
Once your negative HP reaches more than half the above threshold, you immediately fall Unconscious and can take no actions. While Unconscious you continue to take 1 HP of damage every round unless you make a successful Stabilization check or are healed.
Dead
When your current HP drops to a negative amount equal to your Constitution score + your Spirit score or lower, and you have 3 Mortal Wounds, you are dead. You can also die from taking ability damage or suffering an ability drain that reduces your Attribute score to 0. Should you die, certain types of powerful magic, such as raise dead and resurrection, can restore you to life.
Damage Reduction
You are able to gain various types of Damage Reduction or DR, this DR negates an amount of Physical damage equal to the amount of DR that you possess on each hit. DR typically comes in five different categories that stack with each other. The five categories are as follows.
- Alchemical/Consumable Damage Reduction: Alchemical/Consumable Damage Reduction typically refers to DR received from some alchemical items and abilities. This type of damage reduction is usually temporary in nature and mimics the effects of other DR types, while still stacking with them.
- Equipment Damage Reduction: Equipment Damage Reduction typically refers to DR received from armor, shields, some talents, and some spells. This type of DR can be bypassed by any effect that ignores these sources, or by damage modifiers such as Precision damage.
- Natural Damage Reduction: Innate Damage Reduction typically refers to DR received from natural armor, some talents, and some spells that manifest physical barriers. This type of DR can be bypassed by any effect that ignores these sources, or by damage modifiers such as Precision damage.
- Alignment Damage Reduction: Alignment Damage Reduction typically refers to DR received from some Lineage and magical abilities. This type of DR is typically listed as some form of the following, such as DR 5/Good. What this means is that this DR will reduce all incoming physical hits by 5 damage, unless the attack or weapon counts as good, at which point it bypasses this DR. If you have multiple different alignment DRs, they do not stack but simply take the highest applicable one at the time.
- Material Damage Reduction: Material Damage Reduction typically refers to DR received from some Lineage and magical abilities. This type of DR is typically listed as some form of the following, such as DR 5/Silver. What this means is that this DR will reduce all incoming physical hits by 5 damage, unless the attack or weapon counts as silver, at which point it bypasses this DR. If you have multiple different material DRs, they do not stack but simply take the highest applicable one at the time.
- Typed Damage Reduction: Typed Damage Reduction typically refers to DR received from some Lineage and magical abilities. This type of DR is only bypassed by a single type of physical damage (Bludgeoning, Piercing, Slashing), the type that bypasses will be listed with the DR. If you have multiple typed DRs, they do not stack but simply take the highest applicable one at the time.
Damage Reduction Application
When applying the effects of DR to incoming damage each type of DR may only be applied once per hit. In addition, the DR is typically applied in the order listed above, applying to the attacks base damage first before applying excess DR to additional damage.
If an ability has effects that are determined by your DR this is their effective DR unless otherwise noted. This means that the ability may act differently if the DR is not fully applied. For example, if you have the ability to deal Retribution damage equal to your Natural DR, you may deal less damage if your attacker is able to bypass enough DR to lower your Natural DR.
If any Physical damage dealt is reduced to 0 damage from DR, the target of the effect instead takes the effects minimum damage in nonlethal damage. This nonlethal damage is not reduced by damage reduction or other sources that reduce physical damage.
Elemental Resistance and Vulnerability
When dealing with non-Physical damage types some creatures may take more or less damage depending on the creature type and their abilities.
- Resistance: Typically, a flat number dedicated to a specific energy type. Any damage taken of the matching type is reduced by the listed number. Resistance from different sources, such as Lineage and a spell, stack with each other to determine the amount reduced.
- Absorption: Like Resistance, Absorption lowers the amount of the specified energy damage taken by the listed amount; however, it also has the added effect of healing you the amount of damage reduced.
- Vulnerability: The opposite of Resistance, Vulnerability increases the amount of damage from the specified energy type you take equal to the listed value.
- Greater Vulnerability: Applies a percentage increase to the amount of damage from the specified energy type you suffer, commonly 50 percent. This can stack with and apply with the extra damage from normal Vulnerability.
Stable Characters and Recovery
On your next turn, after being reduced to negative HP (but not dead), and on all subsequent turns, you must make a DC 10 Constitution and Spirit modifier check to become stable. You take a penalty on this roll equal to your negative HP total. While Stable, you do not need to make this check. A natural 20 on this check is an automatic success. If you fail this check, you lose 1 HP. An Unconscious or Dying creature cannot use any special action that changes their Initiative count on which their action occurs.
While you are taking continuous damage, such as from an acid arrow or a Bleed effect, you automatically fail all checks made to Stabilize. You lose 1 hit point per round in addition to the continuous damage. A Dying creature can be kept from losing any more HP by making them Stable with a DC 15 Heal check. If any sort of healing cures the Dying creature of even 1 point of damage, they become Stable and stop losing HP.
Healing that raises the Dying creature’s HP to 0 makes them conscious and Disabled. Healing that raises their HP to 1 or more makes them fully functional again, just as if they had never been reduced to 0 or lower. A spellcaster retains the spellcasting capability they had before dropping below 0 hit points.
A stable creature who has been tended by a healer or who has been magically healed eventually regains consciousness and recovers HP naturally. If you have no one to tend to you however, your life is still in danger, and you may yet slip away.
Recovering with Help
One hour after you become Stable, but while still below 0 HP, you must make a DC 10 Constitution check to become conscious. You take a penalty on this roll equal to your negative HP total. Conscious creatures with negative HP totals are treated as Disabled creatures. If you remain Unconscious, you receive another check every hour to regain consciousness. A natural 20 on this check is an automatic success. Even if Unconscious, you recover HP naturally. You automatically regain consciousness when your HP rises to 1 or higher.
Recovering without Help
A severely wounded creature left alone usually dies. You have a small chance of recovering on you own. Treat such creature as those attempting to recover with help, but every failed Constitution check to regain consciousness results in the loss of 1 HP. An unaided creature does not recover hit points naturally.
Once conscious, you can make a DC 10 Constitution check once per hour, after resting for 8 hours, to begin recovering HP naturally. You take a penalty on this roll equal to your negative HP total. Failing this check causes you to lose 1 HP, but this does not cause you to become Unconscious.
Once you make this check, you begin to heal naturally an amount equal to your Spirit and Constitution modifier every 8 hours, and you are no longer in danger of losing HP naturally.
Healing
After taking damage, you can recover lost HP through various ways such as natural healing or through magical healing. In either case, you cannot regain HP past your normal maximum HP total.
Fast Healing and Regeneration
Fast healing and regeneration are special forms of healing which can be found naturally in the world, or through various magical abilities and effects. Fast healing being the more common of the two effects provides you with a predetermined set of healing for free at the start of each of your turns for the duration of the effect. This healing does not stop unless you are dead.
Regeneration is more rare but much more powerful of a healing effect. Working in a comparable way to fast healing, in which you heal for a predetermined set amount at the start of each of your turns; regeneration has the additional benefit of only stopping under a specific set of circumstances otherwise it is able to bring you back from the dead. This can continue indefinitely until the effect ends or is stopped.
In many cases both the above effects come with specific circumstance in which the effects can be paused or ended completely. With the most common being having a weakness to elemental damage, such as fire, causing the healing to be stopped if that damage type is used against you. In the case of regeneration if you do not have any weakness to a damage type or other such effect, beheading you can temporarily end the effect as long as your head remains separate from your body.
Natural Healing
- Short Rest: This action can be taken after any encounter or activity that the GM believes is strenuous enough on the party. A short rest takes 10 minutes to complete, and allows you to regain some spent resources. At base this gives you your Constitution modifier in HP restored, your Spirit modifier in Mana restored, and half of your Constitution modifier in Stamina restored. You may only take one Short Rest per encounter or activity. You may also regain resources of specific abilities if an ability regains resources during a Short Rest, it will be listed in that ability.
- Long Rest: This action can be taken once per day or more if the GM rules you have done enough during the day, and requires 8 hours of rest with no strenuous activities. This fully refreshes most abilities and resources, as well as healing you for 25 percent of your maximum HP. If you are in a wilderness or potentially unsafe environment and choose to take watches during a long rest, you must account for the time spent keeping watch and extend your long rest so everyone gets a full 8 hours. For example, a 4 person party taking 2 hour watches must rest for 10 hours.
- Extended Rest: This action is usually taken during downtime or when forced to due to illness or major injury. Extended rest is when you take the rest action for 24 hours uninterrupted, at which point you heal double what you would have from a Long Rest, in addition to what you would have from Long Rest. This healing cannot be doubled from Long Term Care; however, any other benefits of Long Term Care still apply.
- Long Term Care: If you are being cared for by another creature who successfully makes a DC 15 Heal check while resting, you double all the healing benefits of your rest. Long Term Care may also provide benefits on long term Saves against things such as Disease or Poison. For more information see the Healing Skill.
Magical Healing
In the game there are many sources of Magical or Supernatural healing. This type of healing is instantaneous and does not require any checks beyond whatever check is required to activate the ability (For example spellcasting). The most common source of magical healing for living creatures is positive energy, however some creatures may be damaged by this source but may be healed by a different type of energy based on the creature. Magical healing typically heals all aspects of an injury such as scars or other such effects, however major injuries such as Wounds or being put into the Dying condition, always leave behind these remnants unless using a more powerful form of magical healing.
Healing Limits
You can never recover more HP than you have lost, and their hit points may not go above their maximum hit points unless a special ability allows them to do so.
Healing Ability Damage
Over the course of an adventure, you may take damage directly to your Attribute scores. This can come in one of two forms, Attribute Damage and Ability Drain. Attribute Damage is a temporary damage that will slowly heal over time, at a rate of 1 point per Long Rest. If you have multiple Attribute scores that are damaged only 1 can heal at a time. Attribute Drain is a more permanent damage type that cannot be healed with natural rest, and must use magic or other abilities such as a potion or a highly skilled healer. When Attribute Drain is healed unless otherwise noted the healing only applies to one Attribute score at a time.
Temporary Hit Points
Certain effects give you Temporary Hit Points. These Hit Points are in addition to your current HP total and any damage you take is subtracted from Temporary HP first. Any damage in excess of your Temporary Hit Points is applied to your current HP as normal. If the effect that grants you Temporary Hit Points ends or is dispelled, any remaining Temporary Hit Points go away.
The damage you sustain is not transferred your current HP. When Temporary Hit Points are lost, they cannot be restored as real Hit Points can; however, new Temporary Hit Points may be applied.
Changes in Constitution Score and Current HP
An increase or decrease in your Constitution score, even a temporary one, can alter your HP; these are not Temporary Hit Points, and are treated as normal Hit Points for the duration of the effect.
Nonlethal Damage
Nonlethal damage represents harm to you that is not life-threatening. Unlike normal damage, Nonlethal damage is healed twice as quickly with rest.
Dealing Nonlethal Damage
Certain attacks deal nonlethal damage. Other effects, such as heat or being exhausted, may also deal Nonlethal damage. When you take Nonlethal damage, keep a running total of how much damage that you have accumulated of that type separately from your HP total. Do not deduct your Nonlethal damage from your HP. When your Nonlethal damage reaches a total equal to your current HP, you fall Unconscious , and when your Nonlethal damage reaches a total equal to your maximum HP, any further Nonlethal damage is taken as lethal damage.
Healing Nonlethal Damage
Healing Nonlethal damage is different depending on the source of healing. You will naturally heal double a Long Rests amount of Nonlethal damage with only 1 hour of rest. This does not apply any healing toward lethal damage, nor will it count towards the time needed for a Long Rest. Non-Magical healing such as first aid from the Heal skill only applies to Nonlethal or lethal damage one at a time. Magical healing such as spells and magic items heals an equal amount to both lethal and Nonlethal damage you have suffered when applied.
Going Unconscious Multiple Times
If you get knocked below 0 HP multiple times in a single day between Long Rests, you have a chance of staying Unconscious.
You can be knocked Unconscious a number of times equal to your Constitution modifier before being knocked Unconscious for 1d4 hours.
Certain spells that remove Fatigue and spells like Lesser Restoration or higher can wake you up, but if you get knocked Unconscious again on that day, the amount of time goes up 1d4 hours per time knocked Unconscious (minimum 1d4).
Spells and other magical resources can only wake you up based on their Spell Level or tier. Thus, a second level spell can wake you up the first or second time after you fall Unconscious, but not the third.