Death, Dismemberment, and Lingering Injuries

Making a few inches of progress over the holidays on some peripheral projects, I had been thinking about death, dismemberment, and lingering injuries for player characters. Having read several blogs and a few other resources, I remembered an old homebrew wherein I had gone entirely overboard describing the nature of some combat wound results. So I took that, distilled it down, and present it here for you: along with a mechanical idea regarding the use of Save vs Death as part of the death and dismemberment ruling.

Rolling for Duration

To lead in, I'll provide the unique element regarding (or, original-to-my-knowledge spin on) the use of Save vs Death when leveraging Death and Dismemberment.

Immediately when a character reaches 0 hit points or would otherwise suffer a grievous injury, the referee rolls for wounds - provided below - and the player rolls a Save vs Death to determine the duration of the effect, using the margin of success (or failure) as the barometer:

Failed	Margin	Passed
2+1d4 hours	<4	1d4 hours
2+1d4 days	5-8	2+1d4 turns
2+1d4 weeks	9-11	2+1d4 rounds
Permanent	12+	1d4 rounds

Note, a result of "death" is never temporary: instead, shift it one level upward for each tier of success. Thus, a character who suffered an “immediate death” result on the referee’s roll may – if they passed by, say, 10 points – instead have 1d4 turns before dying: time in which an ally may be able to help them.

1d40 Injuries

To determine the wound of a character, the referee rolls 1d40. This can be accomplished by a random number generator or by rolling two dice – 1d20 and another even-faced die – and, if the second die comes up even, adding 20 to the d20 roll when referencing the result.

1d40	Injury Result
1*	Fatal Trauma: The character dies immediately.
2-3*	Critical Injury: The character will die in 1d4 rounds.
4-5	Emergency Trauma: The character will die in 1d4 turns.
6	Looming Morbidity: The character will die in 1d4 hours; 1d4 days, if adjusted upward by the character’s death save.
7*	Paralysis: The character is paralyzed from the neck down.
8	Paralysis: The character is paralyzed from the waist down.
9	Trick Injury: The referee rolls 1d12 in secret. Whenever the player rolls the resulting number going forward on any unmodified dice roll, whatever the player was attempting fails and the character doubles over.
10-11	Broken Leg: The affected leg cannot be used and the character’s movement is reduced by 90’.
12-13	Broken Arm: The affected arm cannot be used.
14*	Memory Loss: The character loses a number of experience points equal to their character level x 1d6 x 100.
15	Ability Damage: The character suffers 1d6 damage to a randomly determined ability: Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity, Constitution, or Charisma.
16*	Knocked Out: The character is rendered unconscious and will not wake until the injury expires, per their Save vs Death result.
17*	Blinded: The character cannot see.
18-19	Wrist Injury: The character may use their arm, but may not use the hand below the wrist at all.
20	Broken Ribs: The character is treated as being two levels more encumbered than they would normally be.
21	Muscular Injury: The character suffers a -2 penalty on all dice results.
22*	Disorientation: The character suffers a -2 penalty on attack rolls, a -5% penalty to skill rolls (or a -1 to an X-in-6 ability for non-thieves), and may not draw or use a map.
23-24	Leg Wound: The character suffers a -2 penalty on any roll made when using this leg. In addition, the character’s movement is reduced by 60’.
25-26	Arm Wound: The character suffers a -2 penalty on any roll made when using this arm.
27*	Nausea: The character suffers a -1 penalty to all dice results; in addition, exertion requires a check against Constitution or the character instead doubles over.
28*	Deafened: The character cannot hear.
29	Muscular Strain: The character suffers a -1 penalty on all dice results.
30-31	Leg Strain: The character suffers a -1 penalty on any roll made when using this leg. In addition, the character’s movement is reduced by 30’.
32-33	Arm Strain: The character suffers a -1 penalty on any roll made when using this arm.
34	Stunned: The character loses 1d4 rounds and has a 2-in-6 chance to fall over.
35	Proficiency Damage: The injury imposes a -5% penalty on one of the thief skill (or a -1 to an X-in-6 ability for non-thieves), determined randomly.
36	Core Strain: The character is treated as being two levels more encumbered than they would normally be.
37*	Visual Impairment: The character suffers a -1 penalty to ranged attacks and a -5% penalty to skill checks that require sight.
38-39	Disarmed: The character heaves the item they are holding, determined randomly, 1d6 yards in a random direction. They are otherwise good to go, but may be taken captive.
40*	Aphasia: The character is rendered mute.

• Results demarcated with an asterisk (*) are considered "head" injuries: a character wearing a helmet may re-roll their Save vs Death, taking the higher of the two results, for this wound.
  
• Optionally, to improve character durability, a referee is encouraged to add the level of the injured character to the 1d40 roll.

1d20/12 Injuries

If you prefer standard dice and a bit more granularity in terms of where a wound occurs, a referee may instead roll 1d20/12 and consulting the following:

1d20	1d12	Effect
1-4	1	Emergency Trauma: The character will die in 1d4 turns.
	2-3	Broken Leg : A leg, or other mean of locomotion, is broken and unusable. Movement rate reduced by 90’.
	4-5	Ability Damage : The character suffers 1d6 damage to a randomly determined ability: Strength or Dexterity.
	6-7	Leg Wound : The character suffers a -2 penalty on any roll made when using this leg. In addition, the character’s movement is reduced by 60’.
	8-9	Muscular Strain : The character suffers a -1 penalty on all dice results.
	10-11	Leg Strain : The character suffers a -1 penalty on any roll made when using this leg. In addition, the character’s movement is reduced by 30’.
	12	Twisted Ankle: If the character moves more quickly than half speed, they must roll a check against Dexterity or fall to the ground.
5-10	1	Emergency Trauma: The character will die in 1d4 turns.
	2-3	Broken Arm : An arm, or other mean of interaction, is broken and unusable. Any held item is immediately dropped.
	4-5	Ability Damage : The character suffers 1d6 damage to a randomly determined ability: Strength or Dexterity.
	6-7	Wrist Injury : The character may use their arm, but may not use the hand below the wrist at all.
	8-9	Arm Wound: The character suffers a -2 penalty on any roll made when using this arm.
	10-11	Muscular Strain : The character suffers a -1 penalty on all dice results.
	12	Disarmed : The character heaves the item they are holding, determined randomly, 1d6 yards in a random direction. They are otherwise good to go, but may be taken captive.
11-18 (Core)	1	Fatal Trauma : The character dies immediately.
	2	Critical Injury: The character will die in 1d4 rounds.
	3	Emergency Trauma: The character will die in 1d4 turns.
	4	Paralyzed : The character is paralyzed from the waist down.
	5	Trick Injury : The referee rolls 1d12 in secret. Whenever the player rolls the resulting number going forward on any unmodified dice roll, whatever the player was attempting fails and the character doubles over.
	6	Ability Damage : The character suffers 1d6 damage to a randomly determined ability: Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution.
	7	Muscular Injury : The character suffers a -2 penalty on all dice results.
	8	Broken Ribs: The character is treated as being two levels more encumbered than they would normally be & fatigue is reduced half as quickly.
	9	Muscular Strain : The character suffers a -1 penalty on all dice results.
	10	Proficiency Damage : The injury imposes a -5% penalty on one of the thief skills (or a -1 to an X-in-6 ability for non-thieves), determined randomly.
	11	Core Strain : The character is treated as being one level more encumbered than they would normally be.
	12	Stunned : The character loses 1d4 rounds and has a 2-in-6 chance to fall over.
19-20 (Head)	1	Fatal Trauma : The character dies immediately.
	2	Critical Injury: The character will die in 1d4 rounds.
	3	Emergency Trauma: The character will die in 1d4 turns.
	4	Looming Morbidity : The character will die in 1d4 hours; 1d4 days, if adjusted upward by the character’s death save.
	5	Paralyzed : The character is paralyzed from the neck down.
	6	Amnesia : The character loses experience points equal to their level x 1d6 x 100.
	7	Ability Damage : The character suffers 1d6 damage to a randomly determined ability: Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma.
	8	Knocked Out : The character is rendered unconscious and will not wake until the injury expires, per their Save vs Death result.
	9	Blinded : The character cannot see.
	10	Disorientation: The character suffers a -2 penalty on attack rolls, a -5% penalty to skill rolls (or a -1 to an X-in-6 ability for non-thieves) , and may not draw or use a map.
	11	Visual Impairment : The character suffers a -1 penalty to ranged attacks and a -5% penalty to skills that require sight.
	12	Aphasia : The character is rendered mute.

If the victim of the attack is at a disadvantage in elevation – such as fighting from the low ground, fighting as infantry against a mounted adversary, or likewise – roll 2d20 and pick the higher of the two; conversely, if the victim is at an advantage of elevation, roll 2d20 and pick the lower.

Simplified Injuries (the one I'll use in my home game)

For the simplest option, one that abstracts all injuries to very vague penalties and allows referee improvisation to describe injuries appropriately based on the situation that might have caused them: the referee rolls 1d12 against the following:

1d12	Effect
1*	Immediate death.
2*-3	Death after 1d4 rounds.
4	Death after 1d4 turns.
5	Movement penalty: -90’ (-180’, if to flight).
6	Dice roll penalty: -2.
7	Movement penalty: -60’ (-120’, if to flight).
8	Dice roll penalty: -1.
9	A random Ability is reduced by 1d6. Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma damage count as Head injuries*.
10	Movement penalty: -30’ (-60’, if to flight).
11	A random thief skill suffers -5% penalty (or -1 for a random X-in-6 ability, for non-thieves).
12*	Knocked Unconscious.

• All characters affected by a roll of 4 or less are unconscious until the injury is resolved.
• For inconsequential non-player characters – such as random goblins or fodder-soldiers – a referee is encouraged to roll 1d8 instead of 1d12.
• Injuries to victims with multiple methods of movement should have the penalty randomly to the different movement sources, at the discretion of the referee.
• Results demarcated with an asterisk (*) are considered "head" injuries: a character wearing a helmet may re-roll their Save vs Death, taking the higher of the two results, for this wound..
  

Notes Regarding Death and Dismemberment Results

Of any of the above injury and wound tables:

• When limbs or other bilaterally symmetric appendages are affected, an even roll indicates the non-dominant side (e.g. shield-arm); an odd roll indicates the other (e.g. sword-arm).
• A character wearing a helmet may, against head-wounds, roll their Death Save twice, picking the better of the two results.
• 
  Where a result would indicate a penalty to dice rolls – this penalty is to the final result: that is, if multiple dice are rolled in an attempt, the penalty is applied to the sum of these dice, not to each die individually. If one die is rolled instead, it is obviously applied to the one die.
• Penalties to rolls are assumed to be cumulative with themselves – thus, if the same result, imposing a -1 penalty, is rolled twice, the penalty is considered -2 – but not with other injuries: in which case, the worse competing penalty (or a discretionary confluent penalty, based on the circumstance) should apply.
• Most penalties herein assume a 2d6 Chainmail style resolution: a referee, if a penalty seems too low, is encouraged to double it for 1d20 play.
  

Dismember on, readers! 

 

Public domain artwork retrieved from OldBookIllustrations.com. Attributions in alt text.