Health, Damage & Conditions
Hit points (HP)
Hit points (also called health points) define how much of a beating you can take before you plop over dead. It is a combination of your physical and mental health, will to live and luck. If you ever hit 0 HP, you die. Therefore, the more hit points you have, the better. The loss of hit points itself does not affect your capabilities, except for bringing you closer to death.
Temporary hit points
Some spells and special abilities give temporary hit points to a creature. Temporary HP isn’t actual HP: they are a buffer against damage, a pool of HP that protects you from injury.
When you have temporary HP and take damage, the temporary HP is lost first, and any leftover damage carries over to your normal hit points.
For example, if you have 5 temporary HP and take 7 damage, you lose the temporary hit points and then take 2 damage. Because temporary hit points are separate from your actual hit points, they can exceed your hit point maximum. A character can, therefore, be at full HP and receive temporary hit points.
Healing can’t restore temporary hit points, and they can’t be added together. If you have temporary hit points and receive more of them, you decide whether to keep the ones you have or to gain the new ones.
For example, if a spell grants you 12 temporary HP when you already have 10, you can have 12 or 10, not 22. If you have 0 hit points, you’re still very dead even when you receive temporary HP.
Unless a feature that grants you temporary HP has a duration, they last until they’re depleted or you finish a long rest.
Damage types
There are several damage types in this roleplay system. Each differs in the way it hurts you and what may cause it.
Electricity – zap zap. Did somebody say lightning or electronics?
Fire – just… high temperatures of all sizes and shapes. Includes heavy sunburns, fire burns, lava burns…
Force – pure energy and magic condensed into one neat, hurtful bundle.
Holy – safely confirmed to be power of Pravus, whenever he wants to hurt something.
Ice – danger ice cream. Blizzards, icicles, snowflakes, liquid nitrogen, anything cold.
Mental – somebody saying something so hard that it hurts. Or your head hurts. You don’t know…
Normal – your everyday damage from weapons, falling, drowning, needles, paper cuts, and the like.
Sonic – sound waves so strong they hurt. Loud parties, your neighbor, thunder and IMPERIALISM!.
Toxic – anything poisonous or venomous, toxic hazards, radiation, the lovely stuff.
Withering – often found in the Bangle fields, it’s corrupted power given shape. Rumors have it it is the power of Mummud.
Damage vulnerability, resistance, immunity
Many abilities, spells and other effects can give you vulnerabilities, resistances and immunities. It is always linked to a specific damage type.
When you have a vulnerability, double any damage of that type you receive.
When you have resistance, halve any damage you receive, rounding down.
When you have immunity, you do not take any damage of that type.
All vulnerabilities and resistances are applied after all other modifiers to damage. Also, vulnerabilities and resistance do not stack. If you were to have both a vulnerability and resistance to the same damage type, they cancel out. Immunities always beat resistances.
Damage reduction (DR)
Some types of armor, and a few other abilities and effects can give you damage reduction (not to be confused with resistance, see above). When you have damage reduction, you reduce all damage you take by the DR value, minimum 0 damage. This reduction comes after damage resistances and vulnerabilities and may be applied only once per action. DR from different sources stack.
Conditions
Sometimes, a spell, ability, or other effect imposes a condition upon a target. This condition is most of the time disadvantageous, but some can be beneficial. Conditions last until they are countered or for a duration specified by the effect. The effect of the same condition does not stack (meaning it doesn’t get worse).
Blinded – the creature cannot see and automatically fails any Ability checks requiring sight. Attack rolls against the creature have advantage and the creature has disadvantage on its’ Attack rolls.
Charmed – the creature cannot attack the charmer, cast a harmful spell on it or use any harmful ability on it. The charmer has advantage on any Charisma check against the creature.
Deafened – the creature cannot hear and automatically fails any checks that require hearing.
Frightened – the creature has disadvantage on Attack rolls and Ability checks while the source of it’s fear is within line of sight. The creature cannot willingly move closer to the source of the fear.
Grappled – the creature’s speed becomes 0 and it cannot benefit from any bonuses to speed. The condition ends if the grappler is incapacitated or if an effect removes the grappled creature from Close range of the grappler.
Incapacitated – the creature cannot take any form of action or reaction.
Invisible – the creature is impossible to see without spells or special senses. It is considered heavily obscured. The location of the creature can be detected by any noise or tracks the creature makes. Attack rolls against the creature have disadvantage and the creature has advantage on Attack rolls.
Paralyzed – the creature is incapacitated, cannot move nor speak and automatically fails Saving throws. Attack rolls against the creature have advantage, and any attack that hits from close range is a critical hit.
Petrified – the creature is transformed into a solid inanimate substance (usually stone), it ceases aging, is incapacitated, cannot move nor speak, is unaware of it’s surroundings, automatically fails Saving throws, Attack rolls against it have advantage, gains resistance to all damage and is immune to all poison and disease (but poisons and diseases already present are just suspended).
Poisoned – the creature has disadvantage on Attack rolls and Ability checks.
Prone – the creature can only crawl, unless it stands up (ending the condition). Attack rolls in Close range gain advantage, Long range Attack rolls gain disadvantage.
Restrained – the creature’s speed becomes 0 and it cannot benefit from any bonuses to speed. Attack rolls against the creature have advantage, and the creature gains disadvantage on Attack rolls. The creature has disadvantage on Saving (Dexterity) throws against damaging effects.
Stunned – the creature is incapacitated, cannot move, and can only speak falteringly. It automatically fails all Saving throws and Attack rolls against that creature have advantage.
Unconscious – the creature is incapacitated, cannot move nor speak, is unaware of its surroundings, it drops whatever it is holding and falls prone and it automatically fails all Saving throws. Attack rolls against the creature have advantage, and any attack that hits from close range is a critical hit.