BrOAGS Damage

This article is part of the rules of BrOAGS.

Hit Points

A character that it is not physically harmed has Hit Points, hp, equal to 5x their Toughness.

Psy Points

A character that it is not psychologically harmed has Psy Points, pp, equal to 5x their Willpower.

Damage

All weapons and hazards, e.g. falling, have a Damage characteristic. If a character is hit by a weapon or befalls a hazard, they lose both hp and pp equal to the relevant Damage value.

Certain sources of Damage and certain Advantages may result in hp and pp not being reduced equally. A telepathic attack might cause the loss of much more pp than hp while a combat veteran would not be as shaken by suffering injuries and hence lose less pp than hp from physical harm.

Soak

If a character wears Armour or has a tough object between themselves and the source of attack, they subtract the Soak of the Armour or object from the Damage before determine the effect of the Damage.

Soak against pp loss exists. It might derive from the effects of a drug.

Armour Profile

All armour has a profile in the form: Extremities/Centre/Vitals or E/C/V. The value of Soak for each area may, and likely will, be different so it is important that the correct value of Soak is subtracted from the Damage.

Distress & Trauma

Beyond the immediate effect of the Damage there is the possibility the injury, if severe enough, will cause Trauma; a state in which the character is effectively dying as they continue to take Damage. The other form of injury to Trauma is Distress. While a Distress injury can be quite serious it does not present the possibility of imminent death that a Trauma injury does.

The following table details how and when Trauma occurs. R is Toughness or Willpower as appropriate.

Area Hit Distress Trauma x1 Trauma x2 Trauma x3 Trauma x4
Extremities <4x R >=4x R 5x R N/A N/A
Centre <3x R >=3x R >=4x R 5x R N/A
Vitals <2x R >=2x R >=3x R >=4x R 5x R

A character may suffer multiple levels of Trauma. Depending on the source of Damage Trauma levels may be linked to hp loss, pp loss or loss of both and Trauma levels for these three categories are recorded separately.

For each level of Trauma a character suffers they lose 1 hp, 1 pp or 1 hp and 1 pp, depending on the nature of the Trauma, per round of combat or minute outside combat. Urgent medical attention of some form is required to stabilise the character and prevent death.

Death

While the death of a PC is a matter for the GM, a character should be considered all but dead at hp of -1x their Toughness and gone for good at hp of -2x their Toughness. A character might likewise be considered to lose their mind at respective negative levels of pp. NPCs should readily expire when they reach 0 hp.

Wound Penalties

Characters can continue to function with reduced hp or pp and without significant impediment to their actions only up to a certain point. Beyond this point the effects of injury become apparent. The larger penalty from either hp or pp is applied to all actions the character takes.

R is Toughness or Willpower as appropriate.

hp or pp Wound Penalty
>3x R 0
>=2x R -1
>=1x R -2
>0 -3

If a character is unfortunate enough to drop to 0 hp or pp, they are unconscious. PCs can be revived while NPCs will likely perish.

Healing

A character with at least 3x their Toughness or Willpower in hp or pp, respectively, and no levels of Trauma can heal naturally with no ill effects. They may recover their Toughness or Willpower in hp or pp, respectively, for every week of rest assuming proper sleep and nutrition. Medical assistance will speed this up their recovery.

A character with less than 3x their Toughness or Willpower in hp or pp, respectively, and no levels of Trauma can heal naturally as above but the risk a permanent reduction in a Physical Ability or a Mental Ability, respectively. If they heal to 1x their Toughness or Willpower naturally they must make a Toughness or Willpower Check, as appropriate, at difficulty 4, if to 2x at difficulty 3 and if to 3x at difficulty 2. If they fail a Check by 1 they lose 1 Rank of Strength or Socialise as appropriate, by 2 they lose 1 Rank of Toughness or Willpower as appropriate, by 3 or more they lose 1 Rank of Athletics or Intelligence as appropriate. The GM may opt to choose a penalty, even one not possible through the Checks, rather than using the Checks.

Levels of Trauma must be dealt with through surgery or an equivalent. Given a trained medical professional, appropriate equipment and an amenable environment the following table gives appropriate difficulties for successfully removing levels of Trauma. All levels of Trauma must be removed at once. A surgeon may opt to inflict the Trauma level in Damage to reduce the difficulty by 1. However, this is a risky plan.

Level Difficulty
1 3
2 4
3 5
4 6
5 7

Life support equipment might be considered capable of preventing death and further hp loss without actually removing levels of Trauma. This is at the GM's discretion, as is any other sacrifices that might be made to reduce the difficulty of treating levels of Trauma.