Loss of Health
In Hack100, there are two main ways in which a character can lose Health:
- From physical damage, e.g. through combat, falling, or some other mishap.
- Through the draining effects of using an unusual, “supernatural”, Specialism, e.g. magic, berzerking, shapeshifting, etc. For clarity, we will refer to these unusual Specialisms as “Powers“.
We’ll discuss Powers in more detail in a later blog. For now, it is enough to say that the loss and recovery of Health from using such Powers works in the same way as it does with physical damage.
Zero and Negative Health
When a character’s Health reaches zero, they fall unconscious.
When their Health reaches a negative value equal to their Toughness Bonus plus their Willpower Bonus, they die.
Recovering Health
Characters recover Health naturally at a rate of 2 Health per day, 4 if resting fully.
Health may also be replenished through the use of a relevant Specialism, such as medicine, magic, or divine assistance. It is left to the Referee to determine the effectiveness of such interventions depending upon the flavour of their game. A “heroic” game will generally be more generous than a “gritty” game when it comes to Health recovery.
As a guide, it is suggested that “everyday” skills such as first aid should be limited to one application per character per day, with each successful application restoring 1-5 Health (in addition to any natural recovery). This will require a successful Task Roll. A Major Success automatically recovers 5 Health, whilst a Major Failure actually causes 2 points of further damage, negating any natural recovery.
The effectiveness of a restorative Power should be proportional to the Health invested in it by the applicant. For example, each point of Health committed by the Specialist might restore 2 Health to the beneficiary. A Specialist cannot heal themselves in this way.
Finally, when a character’s maximum Health goes up due to an increase in their Toughness or Willpower Ability, these additional points are added to their current Health total.