Wounds

"Okay, that hurt."

When a character takes damage, they are usually allowed to Soak that damage. This involves rolling a Soak Test (normally Strength), with the hits subtracted from incoming damage. If the damage is soaked to less than zero, the character takes no perceptible damage. If after the damage is soaked it is still some non-negative number, the character suffers a wound. Some number of boxes will be filled up. All characters and objects have 10 boxes on their condition monitor. And when those boxes are filled in, they are marked depending on the type of damage it is:

• Normal: If the wound is a Normal Wound, draw a single diagonal line between the lower left of the box and the upper right of the box. Like this: [/]
• Lethal: If the wound is a Lethal Wound, draw two diagonal lines that cross in the box. Like this: [X]
• Aggravated: If the wound is an Aggravated Wound, draw two diagonal lines that cross in the box and run a horizontal line through that. Like this: [X]

When all 10 of a character's boxes fill up with any kind of mark they are incapacitated, but they do not necessarily die. If more Lethal or Normal wounds are inflicted when all the boxes are filled in and there are any boxes only filled in as Normal, draw an extra diagonal line through an appropriate number of them to make them Lethal wound boxes. Similarly, Aggravated wounds displace lesser wounds if the track is already full. For ease of accounting, the game arranges all wounds in the order of Aggravated, Lethal, Normal in the character's wound boxes. This can be achieved with simplicity by treating the forward and backward slash of the Lethal wound as separate and placing each one on the first line it fits. You can do the same with the horizontal mark on the Aggravated Wound.

In the case that a character is Incapacitated and at least one of the boxes filled in only with Normal damage, they are in no immediate danger (from their wounds, being incapacitated in a place where you just took a wound implies a certain level of urgency in most cases). If however every box is filled in with a line that goes from the lower right to the upper left ([]), the character's condition has a chance of degrading - sending them spiraling into death, especially if they do not receive medical care. In general, intervention can stabilize such a character if administered within an hour of the injury, and sometimes characters will stabilize anyway. Note that in most cases, when a box gains the downward sloping slash it will gain it as part of a Lethal or Aggravated wound and actually look this [X] or this [X]. The different lines also heal separately, so it is entirely possible to be left with just a line from the upper left to the lower right ([]) even though no wound actually makes a mark that looks like that when it is inflicted.

A Terminal Wound is much like an Incapacitating Wound in that it fills up all of the character's wound boxes. The difference is that it is also an emergent threat to the character's life. A character who suffers a Terminal Wound will need to be stabilized within about five minutes or - barring a miracle - they will die. And yes, that includes Normal Wounds. A rubber bullet or a boxer's punch is entirely capable of stopping a heart, and then someone had better be on hand with CPR or the curtain is coming down.

* Also, you are probably going to die.

• Petty Wounds: A scratch. Will stop bleeding in a minute, and heal completely in a day. May still get infected/transmit poison
• Ordinary Wounds: These are painful and physically debilitating, but they generally heal up without much more than a discoloration at the spot, though they will take many days to do so.
• Serious Wounds: People who see a serious wound inflicted generally wince, and the agony and pure physical hampering it causes will generally strike mortal terror into the sane.
• Incapacitating Wounds: An incapacitating wound is called that because it incapacitates the victim. They may or may not lose consciousness, but they will be unable to stand even if they are able to keep their eyes open. If a character receives medical care or rest, an Incapacitating Wound can be reduced to a Serious Wound.
• Terminal Wounds: Your ass is dying. Not dead, but nothing short of a miracle and a pair of lightning paddles is going to save you now. If you are saved, you still have an Incapacitating Wound.
• Death: A character who receives 7 unsoaked damage from a single attack simply dies outright. Feel free to describe graphic injuries such as exploding heads and bodies torn in half.

Damage Penalties

When a character has been recently damaged, their ability to act is extremely impaired. The character's actions take a penalty equal to the number of boxes on their condition monitor that have a line running through them from the lower left to the upper right ([/]). This includes any Normal ([/]), Lethal ([X]) or Aggravated ([X]) wound boxes. Characters with a Willpower in excess of 2 reduce wound penalties (to a minimum of zero) by the amount their Willpower exceeds 2. So for example, a character with a Willpower of 4 can ignore the wound penalties imposed by 2 of their boxes. A character with Indomitability ignores wound penalties completely.