Injury and Death

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Game Mechanics for Death

Hitting 0 HP

When player characters fall to 0 HP, they gain the Dying Condition and immediately sustain a Lingering Injury. Characters can choose to go out in a blaze of glory with Death Throes, or try to live another day by resolving the Dying Condition.

Dying Condition

Dying is a special condition that combines two detrimental effects: Comatose and Fading. Healing magic does not stop or remove either condition; in Ilisara, healing can only stave off death, not prevent it.

Comatose: An comatose target can't take Minor or Major actions. They drop whatever they are holding and fall prone. Attack rolls against the target have advantage. Any attack that hits the target is a critical hit if the attacker is within 5 feet.
Fading: Characters lose health each round.

Removing the Comatose Effect

The Comatose effect is lifted when a successful DC 15 First Aid check is made by someone in melee range of the Dying character. It represents lifesaving care such as CPR, compression wrapping, or other methods of staving off death. First Aid checks are considered Minor actions in combat.

If the First Aid check is successful, the downed ally is no longer Comatose. They also gain a +10 bonus to Stamina checks made to remove the Fading condition.

Removing the Fading Condition

While Fading, characters must make a Stamina check at the end of their turn each round. Each failed Stamina check results in losing 5 hit points. Reaching negative 20 hit points results in immediate death.

Stamina Check DCs

On the character's first turn Fading, the Stamina check DC is 25.
On the character's second turn Fading, the Stamina check DC is 20.
On the character's third turn Fading, the Stamina check DC is 15.
On the character's fourth turn Fading, the Stamina check DC is 10.
On any remaining turns spent Fading, the Stamina check DC is 5.

Modifications

If the character is not Comatose, they gain a +10 bonus to Fading Stamina checks.
Natural 20s are automatic successes that end the entire Dying condition, including Comatose and Fading.
Natural 1s are automatic failures that cause the regular -5 hit points.

It is possible to be fully conscious and still Fading away. Nothing removes the Fading condition but a passed Stamina check.

Lingering Injuries

About Lingering Injuries

When a character falls below 0 HP, they immediately sustain a Lingering Injury. Lingering Injuries are the consequences of engaging in dangerous combat.

Recovering from a Lingering Injury

Characters must be magically healed by a single spell for 15 or more HP to instantaneously recover from a Lingering Injury. If no powerful healers are nearby to accomplish this, healing can be done naturally with bed rest.

Bed Rest

Bed rest means lying on a bed, cot, or other comfortable surface in a place sheltered from the environment. Characters undergoing bed rest can move around a bit to get food, exercise, or chat but must spend the majority of their time resting.

20 days of bed rest can remove a Lingering Injury. Recovery time is reduced to 10 days if the injured character is attended by someone with healing spells or someone trained in First Aid. Storytellers can reduce this time further depending on the injury, and optionally ask for First Aid checks to speed up recovery time.

Determining Injuries

Lingering Injuries should be related to the attack that downed the character. Storytellers usually choose the Lingering Injury for the character, but may also ask the player to roll for their injury with a 12-sided die, or choose it from the Lingering Injury table. Note that rolling an 11 or 12 results in no Lingering Injury at all.

Lingering Injury D12 Table

Maimed: Roll again and take two Lingering Injuries. If only one 1 is rolled, choose between losing an eye, finger, or hand. If two 1s are rolled, lose a limb. Until this wound has been dressed with a DC 15 First Aid check, lose 1d6 hit points per 10 minutes. Failed First Aid checks cause 2 damage. Suffer a -2 penalty to attack rolls.
Multiple Fractures: Your bones are shattered in multiple places. Your Movement Speed is reduced to 10 feet. All rolls are made with Disadvantage.
Head Trauma: Whenever you attempt an action in combat, you make a DC 10 Stamina check. On a failure, you lose your action.
Broken Ribs or Punctured Lung: You can take one Minor or Major action on your turn, but not both.
Broken Leg: Your attack rolls have Disadvantage, your Movement Speed is reduced to 10 feet, and you have -5 to Dexterity checks that involve your broken leg.
Broken Arm: Your attack rolls have Disadvantage, and you have -5 to Dexterity checks that involve your broken arm.
Internal Bleeding: Your hit point maximum decreases by 5 every 24 hours. This effect temporarily pauses during bed rest.
Aggravated Wound: You lose 2 hit points every hour the wound persists. This effect temporarily pauses during bed rest. After it has been healed, this wound leaves a prominent scar.
Open Wound: You lose 2 hit points every hour the wound persists. This effect temporarily pauses during bed rest.
Mental Trauma: Some lingering pain, a headache, or weariness as a result of dropping to 0 HP inflicts Demoralized (-2 to all attack rolls and skill checks).
Nothing: There is a small chance nothing happens to adventurers who drop to 0 hit points.
Nothing: There is a small chance nothing happens to adventurers who drop to 0 hit points.

Death Throes

Go Out in a Blaze of Glory

At any time during the Dying condition or at the moment of reaching -20 hit points, characters can choose a Death Throes action from the following list. After the action has been executed, the character immediately dies.

Ancestral Bond: Your soul has a strong connection to your family. Tonight, you can appear to up to three family members in their dreams and have one last conversation.

Curse: Your last words condemn a target, and your soul wracks their body with a debilitating curse. They gain 2 levels of Exhaustion.

Death Wail: You scream with all the pent up fury of a soul scorned, causing all nearby enemies to be Frightened for one turn.

Empathic Farewell: Your soul reaches for the minds of those around you, and briefly shares some parting emotions and experiences. Heal an ally for 15 hit points.

Final Revelation: The Storyteller provides you with one major plot revelation or an important secret that you can tell the party with your dying breath.

Guardian Spirit: Speak the name of a person or object. For one round, that person or object is completely immune to damage, shielded by your soul's last gasp.

Haunting: Your soul leaves your body and enters someone else's for a few days before you fade into the Afterlife. You have no power over the possessed body, except to speak telepathically with its host and cause their body temperature to drop.

Revenge: Make a single attack that automatically critically hits as if you'd rolled a natural 20, and deals an additional +5 damage.

Sell Your Soul: You enter a contract with an evil deity that specifies your soul will be taken in return for your reincarnation. Your character is reincarnated after some time has passed as an NPC warlock, fleshbeast, monstrosity, demon, or other supernatural force enslaved to the evil deity.

Storyteller Notes About Death

Combat Lethality

Games in Ilisara are dedicated to long, freeform roleplay campaigns. Combat is merely a tool to arbitrate situations where two or more characters want to fight. Thus, combat is perilous, but not often lethal. As storyteller, you can adjust the game to be more challenging by sending higher level enemies or creating situations where "killing all the bad guys" is not the objective; for example, save an NPC before they are sacrificed to an evil god, barricade a door before a horde of zombies breaks through, or reach a distant checkpoint in under 5 turns.

The Lingering Injury mechanic exists to incentivize characters to be smart, cautious, and approach combat wisely or suffer consequences. Death is the ultimate punishment, and it should not be taken lightly. Do not stack the odds against players such that they are falling to 0 hit points too often. Not all fights must have grievous stakes.

If your game's tone is more gritty and realistic than heroic fantasy, you may optionally impose a level of Exhaustion after every 2 encounters fought without a full night's rest.

Handling the Death of NPCs

As a general rule, NPCs who reach 0 HP immediately die unless the character who landed the final blow specified that it was nonlethal. You can choose to treat especially beloved NPC allies as player characters and apply the Dying condition if that works better for your group's story.

Handling Death

When beloved characters die, it is often followed by a grieving period. Give space for characters to be honored and remembered for their contributions to the campaign.