Life, Death and Resurrection

 
 
 

Damage and HP

HIT POINTS (HP or Grit): This measures how much damage you can take before you enter the Downed state (0 HP).

MAXIMUM HP: Representing the maximum amount of HP that you can have, this starts at 3 HP and may not exceed 10 HP. This is increased by wearing armor and by Toughness Skills.

DAMAGE*: Whenever you receive damage (e.g. “3 damage”, “2 lightning”), subtract that value from your available HP. If you receive a hit with no damage mentioned, it inflicts “1 damage”. You drop to the Downed State if you go to 0 HP or lower — a Death Blow at 0 HP brings you to the Critical state instead. Most damage may not exceed “5 damage” unless specifically allowed.

HEALING*: Whenever you receive healing (e.g. “heal 2”), add that value to your available HP. Healing will not allow you to exceed your maximum HP. Similarly, most healing may not exceed “Heal 5”

*Track these changes mentally. Consistent and voluntary failure to accurately track your hits may result in an investigation from Game Staff.

Resolve: This is a special resource that is depleted by damage first instead of your HP, with the remainder of damage overflowing into your HP. Resolve lasts until expended, 10 minutes have passed, or combat is completed. Resolve is awarded by the Ignite Inspiration and Infuse Armor skills, amongst other skills, but never exceeds 5 points. Furthermore, instances of all kinds Resolve overlap and never stack.

Greater Resolve: is similar to its lesser version excerpt it lasts until the end of the current Period. Both types of Resolve are limited to a maximum of 5, unless specifically allowed.

Try to avoid describing your health in numbers. The following are suggested in-game terms that one should use to describe their health to other Characters.

  • Healthy, Hale, or Bien -- at full HP

  • Bloodied -- less than full HP

  • Battered -- 1 or 2 HP and less than full

  • Bleeding out, Herido, or Downed -- 0 HP/Downed State

  • Critical, Muriendo, or Dying -- Critical State

Downed State (0 HP; 30 Minutes) 

The Death Roll: If you are brought to 0 HP, take 1-3 steps toward a location that is more combat safe. You may not move through your assailant; each step must be away from them. This is primarily meant for safety, although it is acceptable to “roll” toward a healer ally. 

Actions while Downed: While in your Downed State, you must go Prone (sitting, kneeling, lying down, etc.). Also, you are unable to move or use any Concentration, Skills, or Items unless they specifically allow you to use them while Downed. Healing does not affect you as does any further damage, except for Death Blows. Control effects are still effective. 

Exiting the Downed State -- You may be brought out of the Downed state by the following means:

  • Painful Revive effect: brings you to 1 HP and inflicts a Pain Strike upon you. Any damage or Control effect on you also affects the person that is in the process using First Aid on you.

  • Self-Revive effect (First Aid-30): As above, except you can do this for yourself instead of relying on others. If this is interrupted or you stop for any reason (except for Holds or other emergency out of game reasons), you slip into your Critical Count.

  • Death Blow: Receiving a Death Blow brings you to your Critical State. 

  • 30 minutes pass: If enough time passes and you do not help yourself or no one helps you -- you drop to Critical. 

  • Your choice: You can choose to enter the Critical State of your own volition. 

The First Aid action

All characters are able to perform the First Aid action. Doing this requires: 

  • that you be within arm’s reach of the person you are Reviving

  • one free Hand over them (or touching them, if you have their permission for Physical Role-play)

  • You are “Interlinked” with your target - if they take damage or a negative effect, you take it as well.

  • Perform 10-counts of Concentration (aka Conc-10) by invoking (e.g. “First Aid 1, First Aid 2...etc”). 

  • If you succeed, imbue a “Painful Revive” effect upon your target. Anyone may refuse an Imbued effect.

  • Revived characters have a Pain Strike upon them. This effect lasts 30 seconds or until cured. 

Self-Revive and the risks therein

While Downed, you may perform the Self-Revive action -  this is a Conc-30, except that it cannot be augmented and you invoke it vocally and firmly as “First Aid 1, First Aid 2…First Aid 30.” If you succeed without interruption, grant yourself the Painful Revive effect as per above. 

The Risks of Self-Reviving: If your Self-Revive is disrupted (e.g. taking damage or a Control effect), drop to your Critical state immediately. Therefore, This is a last resort option when enemies are absent or sufficiently distracted.

Death Blow

All characters are able to perform a Death Blow. Many monsters have monstrous regenerative powers or are terrifyingly resilient- in order to kill these beasts, you need to inflict a Death Blow on them when they have been Downed. Worse yet, some monsters can only be killed by specific types of Death Blows. 

Death Blows require 4 counts of Concentration (invoked as “Death Blow 1, Death Blow 2...etc.”) while within weapon reach of their target. Upon completion, tap your target with your weapon and invoke “Death Blow, 5 damage*”. Weapon contact with the target is not required except for the Death Blow itself, but it must be obvious that you are simulating the act of killing someone or something. 

*Death Blows that are not followed by a Damage call inflict only one point of damage. 

Critical State (30 seconds)

When you are brought to the Critical State (aka going Critical, Critical Count), vocally start a count for 30 seconds: “Critical 1, Critical 2, etc.” At the end of this count, your character dies. 

However, even Death has changed in the World beyond the Fall. The dead may be raised back to life via the new sciences or spellcraft. 

Actions in Critical: While in Critical, you suffer the same restrictions as the Downed State except that you are not able to Self-Revive and you have a 30 second countdown before you die. 

First Aid pauses the Critical count: While someone is using “First Aid” upon you to revive you, pause your Critical count, until they are interrupted or they finish. 

Authorial Note: While every Player Character can be revived from the dead, most Non-Player Characters will not be able to do so. Canonically, only 1% of the world’s population appear to be subject to this benefit, defying geography, biometrics, and all other factors. 

DEATH AND LOOTING

When your Character dies, they become unable to perform any Actions (except for some specific ones). As their Player, you have two choices:  

Stay as Corpse - recommended if you have allies nearby

-- Benefit: You can keep your items if you are not Scavenged.

-- Disadvantage 1: You have to wait in one place until you are Revived.

-- Disadvantage 2: This may not be an option if your body is destroyed.


Turn into a Spirit - recommended if you are isolated

-- Benefit: You can seek out an ally who can Revive you, leading them back to your body or being revived via Spirit Revive. 

-- Disadvantage 1: Doing this deteriorates/destroys your items except for Fate-Bound items and “plot items”.

-- Disadvantage 2: You are vulnerable to certain effects and dissipate at the end of the current Event if not revived.


Being Scavenged: Although Player versus Player conflict is discouraged, other individuals may take from your fallen body, even before you are deceased. Taking items or armor from your person requires the Conc-30 Scavenge action.

If they successfully complete it, give them all items and Components on your person - give them item tags for props that you own. However, you can choose for said item or Components to have been destroyed when you were Downed instead, informing your Looter accordingly. Return any “destroyed” Staff props/components to Game Staff at the earliest opportunity. As per normal, Players are expected to adhere to this system with honesty and integrity -- failure to do so will result in maximum penalties.

Being a Spirit 

While you are a Spirit, wear a blue or violet headband. You have the following characteristics:

  • Invisible but Present: You are invisible and intangible to everyone, although your presence can be felt but not located if you are nearby. 

  • Blurred World: You can recognize individuals but you cannot understand what they say, read their lips, or even read in-game written text.

  • Whispers only: You may talk to anyone as a Spirit -- but only through whispers. You cannot understand what they say unless a Skill is used to speak to you (e.g. Keen Perception, Detect Presence, Arcane Ember).

  • Spiritual Hazards: You are vulnerable as a spirit. Using a Disrupt Conjuration ability within 5 feet of you (approx) can “disrupt” you, forcing you to leave an area for 10 minutes. Worse yet, some Eldritch entities can consume you, permanently killing you.

  • Fading Away: You dissipate at the end of the current Event if not revived.

Resurrection and Grave Scars

Death is different in the World Beyond the Fall. What would kill a pre-Fall human would put an Afterfall person into a near-death state, even through wounds that would be lethal otherwise. 

Greater Revive: To raise back from the dead, they need to be Imbued with the “Greater Revive” effect. The Medical Redemption skill and the Restore Harmony spell can grant this effect. 

When someone is Imbued with Greater Revive, they receive all the effects of a Revive (1 HP, Pain Strike). Furthermore, they gain one Grave Scar (aka Revenance or Necrotic Corruption). Similarly, individuals with at least one Grave Scar are colloquially called Revenants, Grave-scarred, or Gravers. 

Doom Walkers: A person with 5 or more Grave Scars is too close to death and may not benefit from a Greater Revive. Colloquially called Doom Walkers, the Eidolonic Biology, Necrotic Biology, and Metabionic Biology Traits allow for a Character to be revived beyond 5 Grave Scars. In addition to a new Grave Scar, revived Grave Walkers gain a Soul Scar - a debilitating penalty. Too many Soul Scars that can eventually render a character’s skills unusable.  

Grave Gifts

(requires the Graveyard Expansion to unlock)

If you have at least 1 Grave Scar, you may choose to gain a Grave Gift (see below) - a temporary or permanent beneficial effect. You may not start the game with a Grave Gift. Grim Resilience and Spectral Sight can be chosen more than once, with different skills gained each time.

When the Graveyard Expansion is at Tier 3, individuals with 3+ Grave Scars can choose a second Grave Gift.

Option 1: Hollow Health (2 ATNs; permanent)

  • Your maximum HP increases by +1

  • This must be labeled as “G-Gift: Max HP +1”

    • If you don’t have a Milestone yet, this is Max HP +2 instead.

  • For the first Event, this does not occupy Attunement slots. If the recipient is willing, this can be cured as a Basic Disease.

Option 2: Grim Resilience (0 ATN; permanent)

  • You gain one Defiant, Survivor, or Scrapper skill of your choice.

  • It can be Basic or Complex but you must have its requirements.

  • This does not cost XP nor CMP to learn, but it must be labeled with “G-Gift”.

Option 3: Necrotic Stigmata (0 ATN; permanent)

  • If you are eligible for it, gain the Necrotic Stigmata, the Necrotic Biology Trait, and the Necrotic Subtype of your choice.

  • This is permanent but only grants the Necrotic Biology Trait and not any other Trait. 

Option 4: Spectral Sight (0 ATN; permanent)

  • You gain one Hunter, Reader, or Detection skill of your choice.

  • It can be Basic or Complex but you must have its requirements.

  • You can prefix and augment it with “Spectral” to bypass any effect that would limit its use (e.g. Blind effects) unless said effect prevents all Skill use.

  • This does not cost XP nor CMP to learn, but it must be labeled with “G-Gift”.

Option 5: Grim Martyr (1 or 2 ATNs; permanent but can be made inert)

  • The Healing and Resolve you bestow on others is increased by +1

  • Your Maximum HP may not exceed 7 HP. If you already have an effect that does this, then this takes 2 ATNs instead of 1 ATN.

  • This must be labeled as “G-Gift: +Heal/Res”

  • For the first Event, this does not occupy Attunement slots. If the recipient is willing, this can be cured as a Basic Disease.

Soul Scars

These Soul Scars are for those characters with the Metabionic Biology, Eidolonic Biology. or Necrotic Biology Traits. These are inflicted upon a character every time they accrue a Grave Scar when they have more than 5 Grave Scars already.  

If a Character has all of these Soul Scars and they perish again, they can still be revived but they do not get any further Soul Scars. Once received, a Character may never remove or cure a Soul Scar.

Developer’s Note: This means that a Character with the above mentioned Traits might never permanently die unless allies are unable to Revive them within 24 hours. On the other hand, a Character with too many Soul Scars may lack any utility or capacity for anything except within the bounds of Role-playing and Sentiment.  

  • Broken Strength: You may never inflict more than one point of damage with a melee attack, although special attacks may allow you to inflict different damage types. Furthermore, you are unable to use the Strength/Athletics skill (or similar upgrades) or inflict any Wound or Blight effects

  • Enervated Mind: Injury and trauma has warped your mind and its functions, sending tremors into your fine motor skills and disrupting your thoughts. All of your Periodic Abilities are only usable once per Month. This does not include any Mastercraft skills. Furthermore, you may never have more than 3 Attunements, even with beneficial effects from your community.  

  • Fractured Spirit: Your vital energies and systems have been sapped by the pain of death. You may never have more than 1 Focus. Similarly, you are unable to negate or remove any Curse from yourself with any Skill or Item property. If affected by these, you will have to rely on others to remove them from you.

  • Shattered Senses: You are unable to use any Defenses, Perceive, or Inquiry skills. Furthermore, you may never inflict more than one point of damage with a ranged attack.

  • Withered Flesh: Your maximum HP may never exceed 3 HP. Similarly, you are unable to negate or remove any Disease/Wound/Blight from yourself with any Skill or Item property. If affected by these, you will have to rely on others to remove them from you.