Wounds
Wounds
While your hit points come and go, wounds are more serious. Wounds represent real harm that you have suffered and you recover from them only after days of rest or through the use of powerful magic.
Becoming Wounded
There are several ways you may become wounded.
- If your hit points fall to 0 or less, you suffer 1 wound.
- Catastrophic events (such as a fall from a great height) can cause wounds.
- Many diseases inflict wounds.
- Especially grievous attacks (such as a dragon’s breath weapon) deal damage in wounds.
- Various other game effects inflict wounds.
Recovering from Wounds
Generally, without the help of powerful magic or technology, you can recover from wounds through downtime or rest. You recover from wounds in the following ways:
- After a long rest, if you succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw, you remove 1 wound suffered in the prior 24 hours. If your saving throw is a natural 20, you instead remove up to 3 wounds.
- After a long rest, choose a scar and remove up to 3 wounds. If you do, you gain 1 grit. Scars and grit are discussed below.
- After a long rest, and not more than once every 15 days, remove 1 wound.
Being Wounded
Wounds have no mechanical effect until you exceed your wound threshold, which is equal to 3 + your Constitution modifier (plus anything extra from feats or other game effects). When this happens, you have a choice to make. Your choices are:
- Your character succumbs to their wounds and dies. They are removed from play.
- Your character succumbs to their wounds and retires from adventuring. They are removed from play just as if they had died. They carry long-lasting scars from their injury.
- Choose 1 scar for every 2 wounds you have (rounding down). Reduce your wound count by 1 for each scar chosen. You can never have more scars than your wound threshold so you can only select this option if it would not take your scars over your wound threshold.
Scars are meant to bring a deeper level of roleplaying to your character, by allowing events that happen to have an enduring impact.
Finally, grit exists to offset the mechanical impact of scars. Grit does not nullify the scar’s impact, but it gives you an advantage in other ways.
Scars
Scars allows you to eliminate wounds and add roleplaying flavor to your character. Your scars can be physical or mental in nature.
Scars have a permanent mechanical impact on your character and you can never have more scars than your wound threshold. When you suffer a major scar, choose the game impact from those below, or work with your gamemaster to create a unique effect for your character.
- Reduce your Speed by 10 ft. If you choose this scar multiple times, the effects stack. If your Speed becomes 0, you become lame. (appropriate for a leg or foot wounds)
- You suffer disadvantage on Perception checks that rely on sight and your passive Perception is reduced by 5 when it relies on sight. If you choose this penalty twice, you become blind. (appropriate for eye wounds)
- You suffer disadvantage on Perception checks that rely on hearing and your passive Perception is reduced by 5 when it relies on hearing. If you choose this penalty twice, you become deaf. (appropriate for wounds deriving from sound)
- You are missing a hand or arm and have disadvantage on Athletics checks. (appropriate for hand and arm wounds)
- You are afflicted by a phobia. You have disadvantage on attack rolls, saving throws, and ability checks when it makes sense that your phobia would impedes you. Your phobia should be related to the wounds removed by this scar. (appropriate for most wounds)
- You have difficulty processing events in rapid succession. You have disadvantage on Initiative checks. (appropriate for head wounds)
- Reduce two ability scores of your choice by 2 points each. You can choose the impacted scores, but it should make sense within the context of the story and your wound.
Grit
The first time you gain a scar, you gain 3 points of grit. Each additional scar increases your grit by 1. Your grit is represented as a pool of d12s. At any time, before or after you roll dice, you can expend 1 point of grit to add 1d12 to the result. You can spend grit on any roll (attacks, saving throws, damage, etc.). You regain all your expended grit at the end of a long rest.
If a game effect eliminates the mechanical impact of your scar, you lose any grit you gained from that scar as well. For instance, if you are rendered blind, and then your blindness is cured through magic, you lose any grit you gained from the scars that rendered you blind.
Minor Scars
On occasion, you may suffer a harm that doesn’t rise to the level of those described above. In this case, it’s any long-lasting wound without a mechanical impact. These minor scars leave you marked and your gamemaster may tell you to record a minor scar and gain 1 point of grit. Just like regular scars, the grit you gains is immediately lost if the scar is removed.
For instance, Thomas puts on a cursed ring, and can’t take it off. To get rid of the thing, his companions cut off his finger. Missing one finger doesn’t have any game impact, but it certainly leaves Thomas changed forever. His gamemaster tells Thomas to record a minor scar (missing finger) and give himself 1 point of grit. If Thomas later employs magic such as a regeneration spell to regrow his finger, he loses the grit he gained from this minor scar.
Minor scars do not count against the maximum number of scars you can have at one time.