Understanding Damage Capacity

Most Species in the world are creatures of flesh and bone, and as such have three damage values that when combined, form what could be considered a character's Damage Capacity. Two of these directly reflect how much physical punishment and life threatening injury a character can withstand, and the third how much mental /emotional damage. These three values are:

Hit Points (H.P.)
Structural Damage Points (S.D.P.)
Mental Stability Points (M.S.P.)

Structural Damage Points (S.D.P)

Structural Damage Capacity not only applies to vehicles and equipment and such but also to living organisms and is built up from conditioning the body, much like the process a professional boxer or body builder would undertake. generally, punch a person in the stomach hard, and they double over in pain, representing a low Damage Capacity. This is because they sit behind a desk, or have little physical activity. Hit a professional boxer in the stomach. and he's likely to smile at you menacingly then rip your head off.

Another way to think of S.D.P. for people is as the hero factor. You know, the kind or punishment characters like Aragorn, Legolas or Gimli take that would cripple any normal person, but is shruged of by hero as s/he leaps back into action.

In living beings and organisims this capacity is represented with Structural Damage Points. These points supplement Hit Points which are considered the "life-threatening" damage, while the S.D.P. represent the more "flesh wound" type damage. When a character gets hit/hurt with something that does H.P./S.D.P. damage, subtract the damage from S.D.P. first. This is damage that hurts. but is not life threatening. The character just basically wipes away the blood and jumps back into action. When S.D.P. are reduced to zero, the damage start coming off Hit Points, and the character is now entering the danger zone.

Determining Structural Damage Points (S.D.P)

All characters get a certain amount of S.D.P. points to start. Each O.C.C. indicates how many S.D.P. a character gets for building that base as well as those recieved due to race. Further, certain skills provide additional S.D.P. bonuses. All S.D.P. bonuses are cumulative and when added up give the total S.D.P. of the character

Hit Points (H.P.)

Hit Points (also called HP, Health Points, Life Points) represent a fraction of the character`s Maximum Physical Damage Capacity. When a character takes damage, the amount of damage taken is subtracted from their current Hit Points. When a character's Hit Points are reduced to zero (or less), s/he collapses and falls into a coma. How much damage below zero a character can go depends on his P.E. (Physical Endurance) attribute. A character can take one point of damage below zero (to -1, -2, -3, etc.) for each P.E. point.
Example: A character with a P.E. of 9 will lapse into a coma at zero Hit Points, but still lives up to a negative 9. However. if the character receives more damage (which is very possible) than the P.E. number, s/he is dead with no hope of recovery. Thus, if a character with a P.E. of 9 takes 10 points or more below zero, exceeding the P.E., s/he is beyond medical help and dies.The length of time a character in a coma will survive without treatment is again indicated by the P.E. number. Add one hour for each P.E. point.
Example: P.E. 9 = 9 hours, P.E. 10 = 10 hours, and so on.

Hit points can be restored by vaious ways, like by Hit Regeneration (Natural Healing, Life Steal or transfer through various class or magic/psionic abilities powers, or through medical treatment or medicines.

Temporary Hit Points

Note: Hit points restored through means of medicine/chemical methods or through specific abilities as a Hit point boost are considered Temporary Hit Points and are special Hit Points, that temporary increase character`s Health. An example of this would be a potion that amps up natural body functions and makes the body think it is less damaged than it is. In these cases any further damage is taken from the temporary hit point pool first, then from normal Hit points. Unlike Hit Points, once Temporary Hit Points are substracted, they cannot be restored.

Determining Base Hit Points

Having rolled up your attributes, you will recall that one of them is Physical Endurance (P.E.). The P.E. score is your character's base (starting) Hit Points.

So for example, a P.E. score of 14 means the character has a base of 14 Hit Points. Roll 1D8 and add it to the Hit Point total. This represents a first level character's starting Hit Points.

Building Hit Points: As characters go up in level the gain more Hit Points. The amount is dependent on the amount of O.C.C.s the character has. Single O.C.C, character gain 1D8 per Level, Dual O.C.C. characters gain 1D6 per Level and characters with Three or more O.C.C.s gain 1D4 per level. The more experienced the character becomes, the more damage s/he can endure.

Remember, Hit Point damage is serious. The lower a character's Hit Points drop, the closer to death s/he is getting! Physical attacks, punches. kicks, clubs, knives, bows and other weapons all do Hit Point as well as S.D.P. damage. Add the damage up and subtract from the character - but first subtract damage from any temporary Hit Points, then the character's Physical S.D.P. and finally from Hit Points.

Recovery of Hit Points and Structural Damage Points

After a battle, medical treatment can be administered by fellow characters with First Aid. Paramedic and other Medical skills. This is fine for minor wounds, but serious injuries, like internal injury, fire wounds, and broken bones, will require professional medical treatment.
Note: Unless a character stops the bleeding of cuts and stab wounds, s/he will continue to lose blood and suffer damage at the rate of one S.D.P. per minute.

Rate of Recovery: Non-Professional Treatment. This is basic, first aid-type treatment by oneself, or non-medically trained people. Two Hit Points and four S.D.C. per day (24 hours).

Rate of Recovery: Professional Treatment. This is medical treatment from a doctor, clinic or hospital. Two Hit Points per day for the first two days and four per each following day, unt il the character has regained all of his/her original Hit Points. S.D.C. points are restored at a rate of six per day.P Point per minute.
Rate of Recovery: Non-Professional Treatment. This is basic, first aid-type treatment by oneself, or nonmedically trained people. Two Hit Points and four S.D.C. per day (24 hours).
Rate of Recovery: Professional Treatment. This is medical treatment from a doctor, clinic or hospital. Two Hit Points per day for the first two days and four per each following day, unt il the character has regained all of his/her original Hit Points. S.D.C. points are restored at a rate of six per day.

Mental Stability Points (M.S.P.)

Mental Stability Points (M.S.P.) represent the third factor in a character's Damage Capacity. When a character experiances emotional trauma, stress or Trauma to his or her psyche it does damage to a character's mental stability, which if not tended to could lead to a catatonic state, emotional paralysis or even Insanity. As Mental Endurance represents the character's willpower and indicates how much mental and emotional stress the character can withstand it also serves as a basis for determining the characters resistance to Mental Damage. The attribute bonus chart indicates the bonus added to saving throws vs. Psionic attacks and insanity. however the actual ME score is also important in the fact that not only does it serve as a base number for determining MSP but as a indication of how quickly one recovers from the situations that cause Mental damage and how much mental damage is taken from the various situations a character must face.

M.E.	M.S.P. Recovery	Mental damage rate
1-5	1/month	6
6-15	2/month	5
16-30	1/week	4
31-40	2/week	3
41-50	1/day	2
51-60	2/day	1

The above table explains the amount of mental damage a person would take for a specicic situation and then how long a recovery time would be nessesary after treatment for the situation is started, for Example, A character has a near death experiance. THe game Master has the character roll against his M.E. attribute (in the case of this example the character has an M.E. of 14) and the character rolls a 16 meaning that he failed the roll and takes some mental damage from the experiance. Based on the characters M.E. of 14 and assuming the character is a single classed character of 2nd level we know that he has a base MSP of 14 + 2D6. so lets assume a base of 23. because the character failed the roll he takes 5 Mental Damage bringing his total to 18 and if he recieves proper treatment he will recover from the damage at a rate of 2 MSP per month. MSP can be restored by vaious ways, like Psycological Treatments, Medicine/Chemical methods or through specific abilities. Each of these methods will of course modify the recovery amount As follows:

Psycological Treatment from an unskilled individual: Reduce rate of recover by half
Psycological Treatments from unprofessional individuals with medical skills: Rate x 1
Psycological Treatments from an intern or nurse (R.N.): Rate x 1.5
Psycological Treatments from a doctor without proper facilities: Rate x 2
Psycological Treatments from a major hospital or best doctor: Rate x3
Medicine: Rate x 4
Ability: Depending on the nature of the ability but often instantanious recovery
Note: these rate modifiers are cumulative.

When a character is reduced to 0 or negative M.S.P. there are 4 possible occurances that might happen: Roll 1D10 each time a character faces a situation that would cause MSP damage until the character recieves treatment.

(1-4)Emotional Paralysis: can cause physical symptoms that resemble paralysis. The most common is facial paralysis, but there are those that feel they're struggling to move even their arms, legs, and more. The character suffers from an anxiety attack that cause him to first begin to hyperentilate, losing sensation in the body's extremities and then the loss of all mobility as the character cannot focus on anything but the cause of the trauma rendering all movement impossible until the source of the trauma is eliminated or the character is cured.
(5-8)Insanity: See the Insanity Section
(9)Catatonic State (Coma):The character is so affected by the trauma that he or she falls into a coma. This coma is as life threatening as a coma caused by physical damage (see below for Surviving a coma)
(10)Cardiac Arrest: THe trauma literally causes the character to have a heart attack and unless immediate tratment is given the character dies.

Determining Base M.S.P.

Having rolled up your attributes, you will recall that one of them is Mental Endurance (P.E.). The M.E. score is your character's base (starting) M.S.P.

So for example, an M.E. score of 14 means the character has a base of 14 Hit Points and increase the M.S.P.by adding 1D6. This represents a first level character's starting M.S.P.

Building M.S.P: As characters go up in level the gain more M.S.P. The amount is dependent on the amount of O.C.C.s the character has. Single O.C.C, character gain 1D6 per Level, Dual O.C.C. characters gain 1D4 per Level and characters with Three or more O.C.C.s gain 1D2 per level. The more experienced the character becomes, the more Mental/Emotional s/he can endure.

Remember, mental damage is serious or more so then physical damage in that it requires longer recovery times and can effect a character for the rest of his or her life. The lower a character's M.S.P. drop, the closer to possible insanity s/he is getting! In fact a character that falls into a mentally induced coma is just as susceptible to death as if taking physical damage (Literally being scared to death as an example).

Surviving a Mentally Induced Coma and Death

Surviving a mentally induced coma and death (being brought back to at least one M.S.P. above zero) is determined by the roll of percentile dice. If the player rolls two successful recovery rolls out of three, the injured character breaks out of the coma and is no longer in danger of dying. This also means he is brought up to one M.S.P. above zero. Recovery from that time on is standard.
Note: Surviving a coma can be attempted every hour until the character dies.

Recovery Ratio (roll 2 out of 3):

Treatment from unprofessional individuals with medical skills: 01 - 18%.
Treatment from an intern or nurse (R.N.): 01-32%.
Treatment from a doctor without proper facilities: 01-46%.
Treatment from a major hospital or best doctor: 01-70%.

Surviving Coma and Death

Surviving coma and death (being brought back to at least one Hit Point above zero) is determined by the roll of percentile dice. If the player rolls two successful recovery rolls out of three, the injured character breaks out of the coma and is no longer in danger of dying. This also means he is brought up to one Hit Point above zero. Recovery of Hit Points from that time on is standard.
Note: Surviving a coma can be attempted every hour until the character dies.

Recovery Ratio (roll 2 out of 3):

Treatment from unprofessional individuals with medical skills: 01 - 18%.
Treatment from an intern or nurse (R.N.): 01-32%.
Treatment from a doctor without proper facilities: 01-46%.
Treatment from a doctor at a clinic (fair facilities): 01 -56%.
Treatment from a hospital: 01 -66%.
Treatment from a major hospital or best doctor: 01-70%.

Armour Rating or A.R.

The A.R. indicates what an attacker must roll above in order to strike and do damage to the character's physical body (hit points or physical S.D.P.). Any roll above the A.R. of the body armour will penetrate the armour and directly damage the person underneath. The higher the A.R. the better the protection. Any roll above four but below the A.R. hits and damages the armour only. When the armor is destroyed (all S.D.C. has been depleted), so the A.R. protection. All subsequent attacks will hit the character's body; subtract damage first from the character's physical S.D.C. and then, when all S.D.C. is gone, from hit points.

Natural A.R.: Some Races possess a natural protective skin or armour. These living creatures have a natural armor rating (A.R.). Any rolls to strike below the creature's natural A.R. may hit and even sting (like a slap), but inflicts no damage! Arrows and spears bounce off harmlessly, stabbing swords skitter across the armour plates, scales or skin, and so on. Only rolling a number higher than the creature's A.R. or using a weapon that has a Penetration Value (P.V.) that is higher then the A.R. inflicts damage. For example: If a creature has a natural A.R. of 15, only strike rolls of 16 or higher penetrate its natural armour and inflict damage! Any rolls of 15 or below only annoy, not hurt, it. A roll of 1-4 won't even hit. Unless stated in the racial description, All characters have a base A.R. of 4
Note: See the Combat Section for more details