How do you determine the severity of harm? I have read the rules a few times now but somehow I have not found out how this works. Is it all about how GM sees it or does it depend on the roll and position?
How do you determine the severity of harm?
How do you determine the severity of harm?
Its dependent on positioning like you say, getting less than a 6 can subject you to lesser harm with a dominant action all the way to severe harm on a desperate action.
I think I have to make a matrix of possibilities 🙂
Does the resistance usually lower the level of harm by 1 step or does it negate it altogether? Or is it also up to GM?
Up to the gm, usually what makes sense in the fiction. For example a fatal fall when resisted results in only a broken leg etc.
OK, that makes sense. Thanks Mark FenlonÂ
It’s completely dependent on the fiction, but “moderate harm (2)” is your general starting point, just like a standard effect (2) is your starting point for other actions.
It may be helpful to note that harm is the same as effect levels that are modeled against a 4-clock obstacle. 1 = lesser harm, 2 = moderate harm, 3 = severe harm, and 4 = fatal.
Yes, I think it helps. Thanks Dan Hall !
The main reason not to pin this down too tightly is because the flexibility is useful.Â
For example, you could say that the striking snake inflicts a level 4 harm if it bites you, but if you resist it then no harm at all, since you’ve gotten out of the way.Â
You could also say that the level 3 harm of falling off the balcony can be reduced to a level 1 harm from the jolt of catching on to something before falling all the way down. However, even if you resist, you still take some harm.
The Whisper uses a weird artifact to render your living energy molten, searing its flesh housing. So, that’s a level 4 harm, but if you resist, you can expel a mass of the lethal energy, vomiting out your life force, and reduce it to a level 3 harm (thereby surviving, but incapacitated.)
That sort of thing.
That’s clever and very helpful advice too Andrew Shields​! I really needed some baseline to determine the level of harm and your response helps how to use resistance. I think I go them both now pretty well. Thanks all!
If in doubt, ask the PLAYERS what the level of harm means narratively. I find that once given narrative control, players will often describe quite visceral consequences for harm, relishing in the ‘hurt’ of their character.