Critical Hit Effects
There are several possible effects of injuries caused by critical hits:
bleeding, attack penalties, movement penalties, knockdowns, dropped weapons or
shields, and possible armor or shield damage. Some of these conditions are
temporary—a dropped weapon can be picked up—while others remain until the injury that
created the effect is healed. Any damage or other types of effects are marked off
during the End-of-Round step if the Player’s Option combat system is also used.
Bleeding: A character with minor bleeding loses an additional 1d2 hp per full turn until
the wound is magically healed or bound. In addition, there is a chance that
minor bleeding will stop on its own. The character may roll a saving throw vs.
death each time he suffers damage from minor bleeding; if he is successful, the
bleeding stops.
Anybody can stop minor bleeding by applying a bandage or otherwise addressing
the injury. This takes 1d6 combat rounds or a single one-minute round.
Major bleeding results in a loss of 1d2 hp per combat round until the wound is
magically healed or bound. Left untreated, major bleeding can easily cause a
character’s death. In effect, the –10 rule represents major bleeding; the
character loses 1 hp per round when reduced to negative hit points.
Major bleeding can be stopped by a cure light wounds spell (the victim recovers hit points, too), the healing of 5 hp of damage by
any other magical means, or by a successful use of the healing proficiency. If
the wound is bound by an untrained character, make an Intelligence check for
the would-be medic. If he fails, he is unable to help. If he makes the check, the
bleeding is reduced to minor.
Severe bleeding causes the victim to lose 10–60% (1d6x10%) of his original hit
point total every combat round. For example, if a fighter normally has 43 hit
points but receives a severe bleeding result, he loses 4 hp (10%) to 24 hp
(60%) in each round of severe bleeding. Needless to say, this is extremely lethal.
A cure light wounds spell (or 5 hp of healing) will reduce severe bleeding to major bleeding; a cure serious wounds spell (or 10 hp of healing) reduces it to minor bleeding; and a cure critical wounds or heal spell stops it altogether. An untrained character has no chance to
bind a torso, abdomen, or head wound with severe bleeding, but a successful use of
the healing proficiency with a –4 penalty reduces severe bleeding to major
bleeding.
Note that once a character drops below 0 hit points, regardless of the number
and combination of wounds she is suffering from, she only suffers the effects
of major bleeding (i.e., only 1 hit point is deducted per round).
Attack Penalties: Many critical hits hamper the victim’s ability to fight, resulting in an
attack penalty. This is noted as applying to all attacks or to attacks with the
particular limb that was injured. Other critical hits may prevent the victim from
making attacks at all. If a critical hit prevents a character from making
attacks, it also prevents him from casting spells or exercising any other combat
action except moving or using magical items.
Movement Penalties: Hits to the legs and body may penalize a character’s ability to move. Usually,
this is expressed as “1/2 move”, “1/3 move”, and so on. If the character’s
movement is limited, he may not charge, run, or sprint; he can only move by using
the reduced rate. A character with no movement at all can still ride a mount
with difficulty, or drag himself on the ground with an effective movement rate of
1.
Knockdowns: If a critical hit calls for a knockdown, the victim is still entitled to a
saving throw to avoid falling down. See Knockdowns in Chapter One.
Armor and Shield Damage: Some critical hits call for possible damage to a creature’s armor or shield.
If the victim of the hit has no armor at that location, the blow is usually
assumed to have more severe effects than if the character was protected. The armor
descriptions in Chapter Seven deal with the coverage of each type of armor.
If the creature struck does have a shield or armor to deflect the blow, it may
be damaged if the chart calls for it. First of all, the victim gets his normal
saving throw roll to avoid the effects of the critical hit; if the roll is
successful, there is no special effect for the hit. If the roll fails, his armor
or shield must roll an item saving throw vs. normal blow with the number of
points of damage (before doubling) used as a negative modifier for the save. If the
attacker’s weapon is larger than the defender (for example, a Size L halberd
striking a Size M human), the save is rolled against a crushing blow, instead.
For example, remember the ogre’s critical hit on poor Feodor? That result also
called for possible armor damage. The ogre’s club is Size L, so the item
saving throw is against a crushing, not a normal, blow. Feodor is in metal plate
mail, which has a saving throw of 7 vs. crushing blow. The ogre did 6 points of
damage before doubling for the critical hit, so Feodor’s armor is safe on a roll
of 13 or more on a d20.
A damaged shield is useless. If armor is damaged, only the location struck is
useless, and it no longer contributes to the overall AC of the suit. Refer to
the rules for Partial Armor in Chapter Seven. In the example above, Feodor was struck on the torso. If his armor failed
its item saving throw, only his breastplate would be ruined. A plate mail
breastplate contributes 3 points to his AC, so Feodor’s AC worsens from AC 3 to AC 6.
Damaged equipment can be repaired by a skilled armorer or by magical means.
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