Health and Torpor

Health Chart

Health Level	Health Status	Penalties
7	Bruised	0
6	Hurt	-1 to all rolls
5	Injured	-1 to all rolls
4	Wounded	-2 to all rolls
3	Mauled	-2 to all rolls
2	Crippled	-5 to all rolls
1	Incapacitated*	no actions
0	Torpor	waiting for path/humanity check to come alive

* If you take damage in excess of your health pool you, you go to incapacitated. it takes an conscious action to kill.

Damage Types

• Bashing damage:

Bashing damage comes from blunt weapons and unarmed attacks and bullets (though these can also inflict lethal damage by aiming at the vitals and incurring additional difficulty). Vampires automatically take half bashing damage, rounded down, after rolling to soak.
Levels of Bashing damage are abbreviated to B in combat statistics. Sources of bashing damage include blunt weapons, fists, damage from falling or being hit by objects (cars, etc.) and some natural hazards (some sources of electricity, for example). Some supernatural creatures suffer Bashing damage from attacks which would be considered lethal for mortal humans; the most notable case is that vampires suffer Bashing damage from gunfire, since damage to their organs matters little to them and they do not suffer from blood loss in the same way as humans.

Bashing damage causes bashing wounds, which are marked in the health track using a slash. A character cannot die from Bashing damage under normal circumstances, but can be knocked unconscious (though some supernatural creatures are immune to this effect). Characters whose health track is full of Bashing wounds and sustain further Bashing damage upgrade their existing wounds to Lethal ones.

• Lethal damage:

Levels of Lethal damage are abbreviated to L in combat statistics. Sources of Lethal damage include edged weapons like knives, swords and axes, piercing weapons like arrows and stakes, and firearms. Martial artists may learn to deliver blows which cause Lethal rather than Bashing damage. Many natural hazards, like fire and some sources of electricity, also cause Lethal damage to humans.

Lethal damage causes Lethal wounds, which are marked in the health track using an "X". A character whose health track is full of Lethal wounds and sustains further Lethal damage - assuming they survive - upgrades their existing wounds to Aggravated ones. Lethal wounds heal slowly, usually requiring medical attention if complications are to be avoided. Some supernatural creatures are able to heal Lethal wounds almost instantly, or at least significantly faster than humans. Some - most notably vampires - can not be killed by Lethal damage alone, though it can severely incapacitate them. Many, but not all, types of armour protect the wearer from Lethal damage.

• Aggravated damage:

Levels of Aggravated damage are abbreviated to A in combat statistics (and sometimes to "agg" in less formal contexts). Sources of Aggravated damage include magic spells, the natural weapons of supernatural creatures (e.g. a werewolf's teeth and claws, though these may need to be magically bolstered in some way), and enchanted or blessed weapons. Some particularly dangerous environmental hazards, like nuclear fallout, may also cause Aggravated damage to humans in some contexts.

Aggravated damage causes Aggravated wounds, which are marked in the health track using an asterisk. A character whose health track is full of Aggravated wounds is generally dead, with no chance of recovery, though in some circumstances certain supernatural creatures may be able to return to life if there is enough left of their body. Aggravated wounds heal extremely slowly, and in some cases not at all without supernatural assistance. Supernatural creatures are usually able to heal themselves of Aggravated wounds, but it is a slow and draining process even for them. Very few types of armour can protect the wearer from Aggravated damage, and those that do are often limited to protecting from a specific source; usually only supernatural or magical protection is effective.

Damage Examples

If you have two boxes marked with bashing damage, and you take three lethal damage. You start from the top, "upgrading" the bashing damage you already have to lethal damage (i.e., you put a line through the bashing-damage slash to make a lethal-damage X). So now your health track has three lethal damage marked on it, and no bashing.

If instead you had two lethal damage and then took two bashing damage, the bashing damage wouldn't upgrade the lethal damage, because lethal is a worse type of damage than bashing. Instead, the two levels of bashing are marked below the two levels of lethal.

Healing Damage

A vampire can take a significant amount of punishment. You can spend blood to heal (though unlike a human, a vampire's body doesn't automatically heal). It is a reflexive action (i.e., without taking a whole turn) spend 1 Blood to heal your bottom-most level of bashing or lethal damage. You can also heal a level of non-aggravated damage immediately upon taking it, which effectively prevents you from taking it. Vampires can heal all manner of injuries by spending blood; they can even regrow severed limbs.

For each level of aggravated damage that you want to heal it takes 3 blood and a willpower. The blood doesn't all need to be spent at once, but the wound doesn't heal until the last point is spent. You may also sleep for 24 hours to heal the aggravated damage. You can also spend 5 extra blood when you go to sleep to heal another level of aggravated damage during slumber.

Forced Torpor Chart

Vampires who enter torpor due to wounds must rest for a period depending on their Humanity or Path rating

Humanity/Path	Length of Torpor
10	One day
9	Two days
8	Three days
7	One week
6	Two weeks
5	Two weeks
4	One month
3	One year
2	One decade
1	One centuries

Torpor Details

Following this period of rest, the player may spend a blood point and make an Awakening roll (p. 262, core handbook) for her character to rise. If the vampire has no blood in her body, she may not rise until she is fed; if the player fails the Awakening roll, she may spend another blood point and make an Awakening roll the following night. If the vampire rises successfully, she is considered Crippled and should either spend blood or hunt immediately. A character may enter torpor voluntarily. This state resembles the character’s normal daily rest, but is a deeper form of slumber and should not be entered into lightly. A vampire in voluntary torpor may rise after half the mandatory time period for involuntary torpor, but must make an Awakening roll to do so. A torpid vampire may ignore the nightly need for blood; she is effectively in hibernation. Mortals have no torpor rating; if reduced below Incapacitated, they die.

• Incapacitated:

The stage immediately before torpor, incapacitation differs from unconsciousness in that your character collapses from the combined effects of physical trauma and pain. She falls to the ground and may do nothing except spend blood points to heal damage. Further damage suffered by an incapacitated vampire sends her into torpor or, if the damage is aggravated, inflicts Final Death on her.

• Torpor:

Torpor is the deathlike sleep common to the undead, particularly among ancient vampires. Torpor may be entered voluntarily (certain undead, weary of the current age, enter torpor in hopes of reawakening in a more hospitable time) or involuntarily (through wounds or loss of blood). Once in torpor, a character remains dormant for a period of time depending on her Humanity or Path rating.

TOP OF PAGE