There are four major effects of damage. In order of severity, they are Stunning, Knockout, Injury, and Death.
Stunning
If the STUN done to a character (after subtracting defenses) is less than or equal to his Constitution (CON), there’s no effect other than the loss of STUN. If the STUN done to a character by a single attack (after subtracting defenses) exceeds his CON, he’s Stunned.
A Stunned character’s DCV and DMCV instantly drop to ½ (as do the modifiers for making Placed Shots against him). At the end of the Segment, any of his Powers that aren’t Persis- tent, and any Skill Levels of any type, turn off. The character remains Stunned and can take no Action until his next Phase (he cannot even Abort to a defensive Action). A character who’s Stunned or recovering from being Stunned can take no Actions, take no Recoveries (except his free Post- Segment 12 Recovery), cannot move, and cannot be affected by Presence Attacks. Stunned charac- ters typically retain their grip on objects they are holding, but this may depend on the object being held (heavier ones are dropped more often than light ones) and the nature of the attack.
A character is Stunned by any sufficiently large loss of STUN, no matter how he loses it. STUN damage from a Blast or Killing Attack, reduction of STUN due to a Drain STUN, loss of STUN due to a Dependence or Susceptibility, and the pain of an Mental Blast, to name just a few, can all Stun a target.
At no point does a character suffer BODY damage because of the amount of STUN damage he’s taken. STUN is STUN and BODY is BODY, and taking STUN, even in massive amounts, doesn’t cause a character to take BODY damage. (But see 6E2 84 regarding choking a character to death.)
A Stunned (or Knocked Out) character doesn’t necessarily fall down or collapse. It all depends on the “special effect” of being Stunned or Knocked Out, so to speak. However, the GM may rule that a Stunned character falls down — that’s a common sense (and dramatic sense) interpretation of many situations that Stun a character.
TAKING DAMAGE
Here’s a summary of the rules on taking damage:
1. if the attack does normal Damage (fists, clubs, Blasts):
a. add all applicable forms of Defense — both normal and resistant — together to determine the character’s total Defense. b. subtract the character’s total Defense from the stun damage done by the attack. The remainder is how much STUN damage he suffers.
c. subtract the character’s total Defense from the BoDy damage done by the attack. The remainder is how much BODY damage he suffers.
2. if the attack does killing Damage (claws, blades, guns):
a. Determine how much of the character’s Defense is Resistant (meaning it protects against killing Damage). Resistant Protection and defenses with the Resistant Advantage provide Resistant Defense; so does armor the character wears (chainmail or plate armor, for example).
b. subtract the character’s resistant Defense from the BoDy damage done by the attack.
The remainder is how much BODY damage he suffers.
i. a character’s normal Defenses,
including his PD and ED (unless modi- fied by the Resistant Advantage), do not reduce the BODY from Killing Damage, even if he has Resistant Defenses.
c. add all applicable forms of Defense — both normal and resistant — together to deter- mine the character’s total Defense. Subtract his total Defense from the STUN damage done by the attack. The remainder is how much STUN damage he suffers.
3. if the attack does no normal Defense (nnD) damage:
a. if the character has the applicable defense,
he takes no damage at all.
b. if the character doesn’t have the applicable defense, he takes all the damage.
Some Advantages, such as Armor Piercing,
Penetrating, or Hardened, may affect how
damage applies to defenses.
volume 2: combat and adventuring n chapter Four 105
RECOVERING FROM BEING STUNNED
A Stunned character must take a moment to clear his head and recover from the effects. This is called recovering from being Stunned.
Recovering from being Stunned requires a Full Phase, and is the only thing the character can do during that Phase. A character can recover from being Stunned in the Segment in which he was Stunned if he had a Phase in that Segment and his Phase has not yet occurred (in that case his Constant Powers won’t turn off, since he won’t still be Stunned at the end of the Segment). If a char- acter becomes Stunned while Holding an Action, he cannot use his Held Action to recover from being Stunned — he simply loses it. A character doesn’t recover from being stunned when he takes a Post-Segment 12 Recovery.
In the character’s next full Phase after becoming Stunned, he recovers from being Stunned when his DEX occurs in the Segment. He regains his full DCV (and Placed Shot modifiers return to normal), but he still cannot act until his next Phase — recovering from being Stunned is all he can do that Phase. However, after recov- ering from being Stunned, a character may, if he wishes, Abort to a defensive Action (even in the same Segment in which he recovers from being Stunned).
Example: Andarra (DEX 20, SPD 3) is Stunned
by an attack on Segment 6. She must use her Phase on Segment 8 to recover; she recovers on DEX 20 (so an enemy attacking her in Segment 8 with, say, DEX 15 would have to hit her at her full DCV). Andarra cannot take any other Action until her next Phase on Segment 12, but may Abort her Phase in Segment 12 in Segments 8 (after her DEX occurs), 9, 10, or 11 if she so desires.
If Andarra were Stunned in Segment 4 by an opponent who attacked on DEX 24, she would recover from being Stunned on her Phase in Segment 4, since she hadn’t yet acted in that Phase.
A character may be hit by an attack in the Phase in which he’ll recover from being Stunned before getting to do so (i.e., by another character whose DEX is higher than his). If the character takes no damage from the attack after applying his defenses, he may still recover from being Stunned as normal. However, if the character takes any STUN or BODY damage from the attack, he cannot recover from being Stunned that Phase; he must try to do so on his next Phase instead. (At the GM’s option, this also occurs if a character suffers any similar effect, such as losing INT to a Drain INT or taking Knockback.)
If a character is Stunned, and takes enough damage to be Stunned again before he gets to recover from being Stunned, he doesn’t have to recover twice — he was already Stunned, so he can’t be “Stunned more.” One recovery from being Stunned takes care of both.
If a character is Stunned by a Constant attack, he can recover from being Stunned if he has a Phase in a Segment in which his attacker doesn’t (and therefore in which he doesn’t take damage from the Constant attack).
Recovering from being Stunned is not the same thing as taking a Recovery. A character regains no STUN when he recovers from being Stunned, he merely shakes off the effects of being Stunned (such as having ½ DCV). A character can recover from being Stunned even if he cannot breathe or holds his breath.
There’s no limit to the number of times a character can be Stunned and recover from being Stunned. Nor is there any limit to how much nega- tive STUN a character can accrue, but the GM can establish a reasonable one (such as negative the character’s starting STUN, or some multiple thereof) if appropriate or desireable.
Knockout
If a character’s STUN total is reduced to zero or below (whether by one attack or multiple attacks), he is Knocked Out.
When a character is Knocked Out, his OCV, DCV, and MCV are instantly reduced to zero (Placed Shot modifiers against him are halved), and any attack that hits him does 2x STUN, just as if he were Surprised while out of combat. (The 2x STUN effect applies to any Knockback damage the character takes from the attack that Knocked him Out, unless the GM rules otherwise.) At the end of the Segment, any of his powers that aren’t Persistent turn off, and he drops any held objects.
If a character is only barely Knocked Out (down to -10 STUN), he’s not completely uncon- scious — in fact, it’s more like he’s deeply Stunned. Depending upon the character and the nature of the attack, he may even be on his feet, wobbly but still standing, as he tries to shake off the effects of the attack. He’s dimly aware of what’s going on around him, but is too woozy and dazed to take any action or maintain any power. He can make a PER Roll to perceive something really important, but otherwise he cannot interact with the world. He can’t move, Dodge, take any Actions, or do anything but take Recoveries.
If the character’s been Knocked Out further (below -10 STUN), he’s completely unconscious and has lost contact with the world around him — he’s out cold. He falls down, unable to keep his feet at all. A character in this state of unconsciousness can be killed automatically as a Full Phase Action by any character with the means to do so (a Killing Attack or other powerful attack) who makes a successful Attack Roll against the unconscious character.
Regardless of how severely the character’s been Knocked Out, he cannot do anything except take Recoveries. He can take his first Recovery on his next full Phase (unless he’s deeply unconscious; see below) at the end of the Segment (after all other characters who have a Phase that Segment have acted). However, he cannot take a Recovery in the Segment in which he was Knocked Out, even if he had a Phase that Segment which had not yet been used. A character who’s Knocked Out must take Recoveries every Phase (or as often as allowed to) until his STUN total is greater than zero. When his STUN total is positive, the char- acter wakes up, and can take whatever Actions he wants to.
The body of an unconscious character puts its entire energy reserve into waking up. Because of this, when he wakes up, his END equals his current STUN total. (If a character is “awakened” from being Knocked Out due to the addition of STUN from Aid, Healing, or the like, his END equals his STUN total as established by the Aid/ Healing or his END total at the time he was Knocked Out, whichever is less.)
Example: Andarra was Knocked Out by a plant
creature with a stun rod; she was reduced to -4 STUN. She has a REC of 7, so she’ll have 3 STUN at the end of her next Phase. Since Andarra was Knocked Out, she awakens with the same END total as STUN, so she wakes up with only 3 END.
A character who’s both Stunned and Knocked Out by the same attack (or who’s Stunned by one attack and Knocked Out by another in the same Phase) begins taking Recoveries in his next full Phase; he doesn’t have to spend a Phase recovering from being Stunned (that’s part of waking up from being Knocked Out).
A character can act at full strength or power as soon as he Recovers from being Knocked Out — he doesn’t have to act at partial strength or power for some period of time (though the amount of END he has, as described above, may restrict what he can do). The rules don’t limit what a character can do once he’s awake, other than restricting the amount of END he has to spend.
taking recoveries
A deeply unconscious character may not get a Recovery every Phase. It’s up to the GM to determine what qualifies as “deeply unconscious” and how long it takes a character in that state to wake up. As a guideline, the GM can consult the Recovery Time Table for suggestions on how often a character should Recover.
A character can Recover one level better on the table if someone helps him by slapping his face, splashing water on him, or offering similar aid. Helping someone requires a Full Phase Action, and the unconscious character only gets the Recovery benefit as long as someone helps.
Typically, you should only use the guidelines in the Recovery Time Table for PCs, not NPCs. Once an NPC is Knocked Out below the -10 STUN level, even by a little, he should normally remain