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Grisly Injuries
These optional rules for 4th edition should makethe consequences of going into battle a little moredire. Using this system, even if you come out ontop, there could be a few lingering effects after-ward; a day in the life of an adventurer.In these new rules, a new status effect is intro-duced called simply
injuries
. Injuries are grantedto a character when they drop to 0 hp or below.Injuries work almost like diseases: they gothrough different phases of how their injury af-fects them. An orc might’ve torn a huge gash in awarrior’s leg, but it’s not going to get better imme-diately. The wound may be treated and dressed,but moving around with it is still going to causesome pain.
Being Injured
An injury takes its effect immediately after a char-acter has dropped to 0 hp or below. When thishappens, the character starts at the beginningstages of the injury track according to the narra-tive description of the attack or is rolled randomlyusing a chart detailed later on in the article.The character is under the effects of whichever stage he or she is currently on. When a charac-ter progresses up or down the injury track, theytake the new effects of the injury. In other words,progression (or even regression) on the track su-persedes the original effect--effects do not stackunless they come from different sources.A character cannot be injured in the same placetwice.
Healing Injuries
After a character has been injured, they can behealed in a few different ways. Primarily, they canbe healed either by themselves or by other al-lies using the Heal skill. Healing an injury can bedone during a short rest--injuries need more timeand precision to be healed, something a combatsituation just does not offer. During a short rest, acharacter can usea Heal check (withonly one other al-ly’s help in the formof aid another) tobeat an injury’sImprove DC. If theimprove DC is notbeaten, then theinjured character does not advancenor go down astage. They juststay where theyare. Typically, aheal check againstan Injury can bemade only onetime per hour.Another form of healing an injury is
 
 just to take an extended rest. Taking an extendedrest cures a character from injuries, erasing itfrom his condition.Lastly, a character may use the gusto of being ahero and prevail against the odds, ignoring thebrutal wound he might have acquired during thecourse of battle. If an injured character spends anaction point and uses that extra standard actionto spend his second wind, he may ignore the ef-fects of his injury, no matter the stage, for the restof the encounter. After the encounter is over, theinjury’s effect take hold again as normal.
Injuring body parts
Only certain body parts can be injured to havea real effect on adventurers. They are the head,the torso, the arms, and the legs. With new racescome new body parts that could be damaged(such as dragonborne with the scion of Arkho-sia paragon path or the ashemi who would bothbe very susceptible to damaged wings), but for simplicity’s sake, we’ll worry about the body partsthat everyone has.
Head
When the head is damaged in battle, vision couldgo fuzzy. Short term memory loss is totally pos-sible depending on the blow. When the headis damaged in this way, the injured character doesn’t have a tight grasp on what’s going onaround him, thus preventing him from taking op-portunity attacks. Long term effects can includeshort term memory loss, the need for visual aids,and a general uneasy feeling.
Torso
When the torso is wounded, either through alarge gash on the chest or a stab in the gut,breathing becomes harder and everything is astrain on the body. Torso injury can lead to bleed-ing out. In some cases, the pain can be utterlyparalyzing. Long term effects can include nauseaor internal pain.
ArMS
An injury to the arms can hinder a character’sabilitiy to wield certain weapons and shields inbattle. Additionally, they can take penalties to at-tacks due to the injury their arm has. Long termeffects could include a stiffness in limbs.
Legs
An injured leg can lead to strained movement,
hampering a character’s ability to move efcientlythrough the battleeld. A character with a wound
-ed leg could become a liability in chase scenesor retreating. Long term effects of an injured legcould be a limp or stiffness in limbs.
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uploaded a new revision for this document (#3)

01 / 21 / 2010

uploaded a new revision for this document (#2)

11 / 16 / 2009

uploaded a new revision for this document (#1)

11 / 16 / 2009
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