Crippling Injuries

Crippling Injuries (see Hit Locations)

Any crippling injury is also a major wound, and requires a HT roll for knockdown and stunning; see Knockdown and Stunning. Below are some additional effects specific to particular body parts; all these effects apply to dismemberment as well. These last until the fight is over, and possibly longer – see below.

Hand: You drop anything you were carrying in that hand. If you were using two or more hands to hold an object, roll vs. DX to avoid dropping it. You cannot hold anything (e.g., a weapon) in that hand. You can wear a shield on that arm and use it to block, but you cannot attack with it. Until healed, you have the One Hand (P) disadvantage.

Arm: As for a crippled hand . . . but while someone with a crippled hand could at least carry something in the crook of the arm, you cannot use a crippled arm to carry anything! You do not drop a shield on that arm (unless the arm is severed), but you cannot use it to block – and since it’s just hanging in front of you, reduce its usual Defense Bonus by one. Until healed, you have the One Arm (P) disadvantage.

Foot: You fall down! You cannot stand or walk without a crutch or something to lean on. You can still fight if you brace yourself against a wall. If you have nothing to lean on, you may assume a kneeling or sitting posture. Until healed, you have the Lame (P) (Crippled Legs) disadvantage.

Leg: You fall down! You can still fight if you assume a sitting or lying posture. Until healed, you have the Lame (P) (Missing Legs) disadvantage.

Eye: You are blind in that eye. Until healed, you have the One Eye (P) disadvantage – or Blindness (P), if you lose all your eyes – unless you have some substitute for eyes.

Duration of a Crippling Injury

If you suffer a crippling injury, make a HT roll to see how serious it is.

• For battlefield injuries, roll at the end of combat.
  Success means the crippling is temporary, failure means it’s lasting, and critical failure means it’s permanent. Dismemberment is automatically permanent – don’t bother rolling!

Temporary Crippling: Until you are back at full HP, you suffer the disadvantages described under Effects of Crippling Injury, above. Once you are fully healed, these effects disappear.

Lasting Crippling: You suffered a broken bone, badly torn (or burned) muscle, or other lingering damage. Roll 1d. This is the number of months it will take for the injury to heal fully. (If the injury is treated by a physician, subtract 3 from the roll at medical TL7+, 2 at TL6, or 1 at TL5 – but the period of healing is never less than one month.)

Permanent Crippling: You lose the use of that body part. It is either non-functional or gone. Either way, you acquire a new disadvantage (One Hand, Lame, etc., as appropriate). You get no extra character points for this! It simply lowers your point value. In some settings, even this degree of injury is curable; see Repairing Permanent Crippling Injuries (p. 424).