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Totte - unhealth

barber surgeon at work
barber surgeon at work

Introduction

This section deals with all the troubles that can assail a character's health. It quantifies causes, effects and countermeasures, i.e. healing.

Health damage

Health can be damaged in many ways: by wounds, injuries, diseases, poison, dehydration, starvation, overheating or undercooling, and so on. Many of these cases are detailed in the sections below. Totte quantifies all kinds of health damage in generic pain points. These represent not pain but actual damage to a character's body, though pain often mirrors that.

Every time a character is in danger of suffering health damage, a health attack is revolved. This is quite similar to a contested feat, but with a few differences. The ability of the attack is its strength, which is a single factor. The difficulty is often equal to the health score of the character, or his dexterity. In most cases the damage is not set in stone and randomness is applied. This is not symmetrical like with most normal feats, but asymmetrical. A 1 or 2 on a d8 roll signals a decrease; 3 - 7 no changed and only 8 an increase:

Randomness Die value
health 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

In some cases, when damage is precisely dosed and unavoidable, randomness is not applicable. Combat is another exception. Combat wounds are so unpredictable that normal, symmetrical randomness is used.

The feat result tells how severe the damage is on a scale from 0 to 6. Many severities give penalties to all kinds of physical feats. For example a character whose leg is hurt cannot run so fast as she is used to, is slower in combat, more clumsy in sneaking and prowling, and so on. Totte does not take into account which part of the body is damaged; instead stiffness, pain and the need avoid further damage are translated into a general penalty to all physical feats. GMs may divert from this rule and apply more detailed and specific penalties instead.

Healing

Most health damage can and is repaired by the body through regeneration. Healing helps this process. The effect of healing depends on the type of damage. Totte discerns two kinds:

Damage vs. healing

The more severe the damage, the worse the effects and the more difficult it is to heal, i.e. the more time and ability is required:

Pain points Effect Healing difficulty Treatment time
0 minor none 1 a minute
1 light -1 penalty 4 a few minutes
2 moderate -2 penalty 7 ¼ - ½ hour
3 serious -4 penalty 10 an hour
4 critical -8 penalty 13 a few hours
5 lethal incapacitated 16 many hours
6 devastating instant death impossible  

Damage lower than 0 means no damage at all; more than 6 is just more devastating, up to cutting bodies into pieces or grinding them to pulp. Treatment time denotes the time that a healer needs to set the recovery process in motion; it is not the recovery time itself. The latter depends on the type of damage and the health score of the character. See the sections below for details.
Penalties from multiple damages are cumulative. Fortunately, they heal in parallel.

There is only so much damage a character can take. A total of penalty of 12 or more will incapacitate a character, if even they are accumulated from less than lethal wounds.

Example

Buster the fighter is in combat and receives sword strikes from multiple sides. First he is hit with a moderate wound for a -2 penalty. Next a light wound increases the total penalty to -3, then a critical one to -11. Despite bleeding from three different wounds, including a critical one, and rendered almost completely defenseless, he is still standing. Finally another enemy inflicts a minor wound, increasing the total to -12. Buster sags to the ground, beaten.

Characters who suffer damage are not always in a position where they can be healed right away, for example in the middle of combat. Still it is important to try to get proper healing soon. Even a minor bleeding wound will progress to a heavier wound over time. A crippling wound, if not treated, may heal but leave the character with a permanent -1 cripple penalty!
Characters with healing ability can heal themselves as well as others, but if they themselves have suffered health damage, the physical feat penalty applies to some of their physical medical feats like surgery.

Example

Rusty the poacher is hunting in the baron's forest and has just shot a rabbit. However, his presence has been detected by a few rangers, who start to hunt him. Rusty flees quickly and thus he fails to notice a trap that has been set by the rangers to attack intruders when they themselves are not around. A branch with nasty spikes, stretched taut, snaps loose and slams into him. The dangerous trap has a damage score of 5 that is lowered by the poacher's dexterity of 4 to 1 pain point of damage. A randomness die roll is made and comes up with an 8, increasing the pain points to 2. A second die roll gives a 7, halting the increase and fixing the final damage at 2. The GM explains that Rusty, surprised as he is, probably turns his face towards the branch rather than away from it.
This is a moderate wound that gives a -2 penalty, decreasing his speed. He cannot afford to tend to it and keeps on fleeing. Fortunately it is quite dark and the rangers have trouble finding him. Finally, after more than an hour, he manages to shake them off and sits down to bandage his wound. Due to all the running around, by this time it has bled to a serious wound. Fortunately Rusty is an expert healer. He spends an hour cleaning and bandaging the wound. His surgery skill is dexterity 4 + 2 * medical skill 4 = 12, but he receives a -4 penalty from the currently serious wound, reducing his ability to 8. The difficulty for the original moderate wound is 7. This time randomness does not worsen the result and so the stitching is satisfactory and the bleeding is stopped.
In the evening Rusty cooks his hard won rabbit. But he is as bad at cooking as he as good at healing, fails to cook it properly and is attacked by food poisoning. This does 2 pain points of damage. Again the random die is rolled, first for a 2, decreasing the damage to 1 point, then for an 8, halting the decrease and fixing the damage at 1. Again the GM has an explanation: the sick Rusty vomits the half-digested rabbit meat out and so clears his stomach somewhat.
The food poisoning is light and gives a -1 penalty to physical feats. The penalties from both sources, though different in character, are cumulative and combine to -5. Rusty could simply wait until his bowels recover by themselves, but being a healer, tries to amend the situation. Slowly he scouts the neighborhood of his makeshift camp and gathers some herbs to ease his stomach. As this herbal medicine requires intelligence rather than dexterity, it is not a physical feat and the -5 penalty does not apply. His ability for the feat is intelligence 3 + 2 * medical skill 4 = 11; the difficulty is 4 because this damage is light. Randomness fails to bridge the wide gap between ability and difficulty and so the herbal broth is effective. This immediately decreases the damage from light to minor and his cumulative physical feat penalty back to -4.
The next day Rusty limps back to civilization and takes some rest in an inn, letting his health score of 3 to do its work. After 1 day * (10 - health 3) / 10 = 17 hours (counting from the dinner) his food poisoning is over. This does not decrease his feat penalty, as the effect was already marginalized earlier. His barb wounds heal at the rate of 1 point per 1 week * (10 - health 3) / 10 = 5 days. After 5 days they are down to a moderate wound and the physical feat penalty becomes -2; after 10 days to a light wound for -1; after 15 days to a minor wound for 0 and thus full physical ability; after 20 days he is back in full health without any pain.

Types of health damage

Wounds

Wounds can be inflicted by accidents, traps, weapons and many other phenomena. Normally the strength of a wound attack is fixed and countered by the difficulty, which is determined by the dexterity score of the character. An exception is combat, where dexterity plays a part in evading an attack and armor is the main component in absorbing damage. See the section on combat for details.
There are two types of wounds: open (cuts and punctures) and closed (bruises). Open wounds are progressive; if not healed, their progression interval is 1 hour. Many GMs will shorten this interval if the wounded character remains physically active. Also, open wounds may get infected if dirt gets into them. Closed wounds are not progressive. The healing interval of both open and closed wounds is 1 week.

Falling

Falling is dangerous business in Earth gravity. Falling attack strength is 2¼ * √ falling distance (measured in meters from lowest point of the body to the landing surface); difficulty is the dexterity score of the character. This assumes the fall is unexpected, on a hard surface and the character has to use his dexterity to break as much of the fall as he can. Low but thick vegetation or a gym mat will subtract 1 point of damage, a thick mattress 2, a bush 1 to 3, depending on its size and sturdiness and number of sharp branches and thorns. Snow can absorb 0 to 5, depending on its thickness. Water subtracts 1 point, though several more if the character can make a controlled dive. Trees subtract about 1 point per 2 meters of height on average. Advanced absorbtion devices, like nets, inflated cushions etc. may absorb many pain points.
On a slope a falling character will not fall free, but roll and slide. This inflicts about 2 points of damage per meter of height loss, regardless of the angle of the slope. NB: Vertical distance is of course smaller than rolling/sliding distance. This rate assumes that the descent is a rough ride with many small obstacles, causing bumps and grazing. If it is a slide down a snowed or otherwise smooth slope the character will not suffer significant damage, unless he is stopped violently at the bottom, in which case damage can be nearly as great as free falling the same vertical distance.
Falling damage results in wounds. These are closed, unless the character slides down a slope with cutting objects or falls into a pit with stakes.

Disease

The attack strength of a disease depends on its type. The common cold has a strength of about 4; severe influenza like the Spanish flu of 1918 CE around 7; bubonic plague 8 to 9. The difficulty of a disease attack is equal to the health score of the character.
Most infectious diseases have an incubation period in which little harmful effects are suffered, then quickly build up in strength and gradually subside. Others are progressive, slowly eating away a character's health. The healing interval of disease varies wildly, from half a day to weeks.

Poison

Like disease, poison comes in many varieties. Some attack the nervous system, others cause tissue damage. Some poisons cause mental rather than physical damage, in the form of dazing, sleepiness or hallucinations. Should the damage become critical and not be healed properly, the resulting -1 penalty is mental rather than physical too. Note that in this regard, alcohol and other drugs and acids can also be considered poisons. Poisons can be applied in different ways: ingestive (by drinking or eating), insinuative (directly into the blood stream, for instance through weapons), by (skin-) contact and through inhalation. Some poisons work immediately, but others take minutes, hours or even days to work into a body.
The attack strength of poison is determined by the strength of the poison itself and the size of the dose. This size of the dose must be compared to the size of the body of the character. The result varies wildly, from mild poisons with a negative ability to lethal ones with 10 or more. The difficulty is equal to the health score of the character.
Almost no kinds of poison are progressive. The healing interval of poison is 1 day. Some poisons can be countered by anti-poisons that dramatically speed up healing.

Starvation

Adult humans need between 8 MJ and 16 MJ of energy from food per day. The first 8 MJ is just for keeping the body and mind going; the second half for exertion. Women on average need slightly less than men; children significantly less. 12 MJ is a good average for characters who are physically active. Our ancestors, used to small diets, could do with somewhat less. In a European medieval diet, 80% of the energy comes from grain-based foodstuffs (mostly bread), 20% from meat, dairy products, vegetables and beer.
Without food, starvation sets in, though slowly and also steadily slower. The first pain point of starvation damage is suffered after 0.4 * (4 + health score) days; the second after 0.8 * (4 + health score) days; the third after 1.2 * (4 + health score) days; and so on.
Starved character who receive meals once more recover fairly quickly. One day of normal eating negates three days of starving.

Example

Sonali has been imprisoned by enemies, who try to starve him out so that he may yield important information to them. The prison has a window with iron bars. Sonali tries to break out by patiently scraping away the cement around them. In the meanwhile he tightens his belt for a prolonged fast. His health score is 4. After 0.4 * (4 + 4) = 3.2 days the starvation damage is minor; after 3.2 + 0.8 * (4 + 4) = 9.6 days light; after 9.6 + 1.2 * (4 + 4) = 19.2 days moderate. The bars are a little loose, but still not dislodged. After 3.2 + 6.4 + 9.6 + 12.8 + 15 = 47 days the damage is critical; the speed at which he scrapes the cement has fallen drastically. If he does not succeed within 2½ weeks he will be incapacitated and be forced to give up the information, or slowly wither away further and die.

Note that these figures are made up for humans. Animals with big fat layers like bears and camels, or with slow metabolisms like cold-blooded reptiles, can often go for months without eating and still suffer only very mild damaging effects.

Thirst

The crab with the Golden Claws, by Hergé
The crab with the Golden Claws, by Hergé

An adult human needs about 2 liters of water per day, double that amount when doing hard labor or in hot weather and even more in desert environments. Again women cope with thirst a little better than men and children need significantly less. On the other side of the scale, water intake for somebody who spends the day resting in comfort is halved.
Deprived of water, a character suffers one point of thirst damage every (4 + health score) * 2 hours on average. This is based on the assumption that the character remains active; if he lies down to suffer, the lower need for water can extend the period.
Restoring thirst damage with fresh drink is rapid: A half-day complement of water will restore all thirst damage within one hour.
Again the numbers for animals are different. Most amphibians require a moist environment at all times; camels are famous for their ability to preserve water in the desert.

Suffocation

A breathing character can hold her breath only for a limited period: 1 minute on average, 2 minutes with practice, up to 20 minutes for experts, all provided that exertion is minimal to preserve oxygen. When this period has passed, consciousness is lost and the character starts suffering damage. For humans, 1 pain point of damage is inflicted per 2 minutes.
If the victim is saved before he dies, recovery is quite fast: 1 point of suffocation damage is restored per minute. Crippling damage is often mental instead of physical: brain damage gives a permanent -1 penalty to mental feats.
Strangulation can cause damage by asphyxia (suffocation) but also by constricting blood circulation; drowning by ingesting water into the lungs. Both can hasten the damaging process somewhat.

Temperature

A character who is unprotected in a very cold environment will suffer damage from frostbite (to exposed body parts) or hypothermia (to whole body). Likewise, very hot environments can cause burns or sunstroke. The ability of the attack ranges from less than 0 in mild weather to 4 in bitter arctic cold or fierce tropical sun. It is countered by difficulty that is determined by the health score of the character.
Though damage is usually little, prolonged exposure to heat or cold will inflict it again and again. A good rule of thumb is to apply one heat or cold attack every hour that a character is in danger. Humans protect themselves against temperature damage with appropriate clothing. Animals usually rely on fur in the cold and have a variety of strategies to deal with heat. Protection like this adds to the difficulty of a cold or heat attack, often fizzling it out.
The healing interval for temperature damage is 1 day for point of frostbite / burning damage and only 1 hour for hypothermia / sunstroke damage.

Fatigue

Fatigue comes from from overexertion. While exerting, a character suffers 1 point of damage every (2 + health score) * interval. The length of the interval depends on the intensity of the exertion:

Exertion Example Interval
0 sleep sleeping none
1 rest lounging, rummaging about none
2 light light work; slow walk 5 hours
3 moderate active work; brisk walk 1 hour
4 heavy heavy labor; jogging 10 minutes
5 intense running fast; hand-to-hand combat 2 minutes
6 very intense sprinting; lifting maximum weight 20 seconds
7 extreme sprinting at top speed; lifting maximum weight 4 seconds

Note that light exertion is so mild that people of average health or higher will be overcome by thirst, hunger and/or the need for sleep before they get tired.
Recovery from fatigue by resting is proportional to the speed at which fatigue damage accumulates, i.e. the healing interval is the same as the attack interval. Recovery by sleep is twice as fast as resting awake.
The bookkeeping for fatigue damage can become quite complicated if different exertion levels are mixed, for instance a long march that is interrupted by a sprint to get away from an angry bear. For fatigue, some GMs will insist on precise measurement, while others apply intuition or even ignore its effects altogether.